Something New
by xXGoth LoliXx
Summary: Aang, Katara, Sokka, Toph, Zuko & Suki decide to go to the Naruto world to learn new bending techniques. When they go to Sunagakure Toph then meets the Kazekage of the village, Gaara…
1. Chapter 1

_**So I saw a fanart picture of this pairing & it's grown on me ever since, & I'm not one to usually like crossovers. Personally, I find that there is something appealing about Gaara x Toph (& not just because they're two of my favourite characters lol). This will mostly be in Toph POV but I will change it to some other**___**Naruto**_**characters (but I'll state when so don't worry).**_

_**Summary: Aang, Katara, Sokka, Toph, Zuko & Suki decide to go to the Naruto world to learn new bending techniques. When they go to Sunagakure Toph then meets the Kazekage of the village, Gaara…**_

_**Disclaimer: I own nothing;**___**Naruto**_**belongs to Masashi Kishimoto &**___**Avatar: The Last Airbender**_**belongs to**____**Michael Dante DiMartino**____**&**____**Bryan Konietzko.**_

**Chapter 1**

"So, what do you guys think about going to the Land of Fire? I have a friend who lives in the main village there called Naruto." Aang asked, looking around at the group.

"Why do you wanna go there?" Sokka asked.

Toph, who was lying on the floor eating grapes, looked up in Aang's direction (not that she could see anyway). Why would he want to go that fire land for? She didn't like the sound of that, _fire,_ugh it sounded like everything there would be surrounded by volcanoes or something.

"Well not only did Naruto invite me, but I thought it would be good to go because they fight over there using techniques similar to our bending. I thought we could learn some new bending techniques."

"Well I'll opt out." Toph said.

"Aww why is that for?" Aang asked.

"Well I'm already the greatest Earthbender in the world, why would I need to learn something new?"

"Well..." Aang started.

"And what about the name of the place, _fire_. Sounds like we're going to a land full of volcanoes."

"And you don't seem to mind the Fire Nation." Zuko noted.

Damn, he got Toph there.

"Why not come to see somewhere new?" Katara asked, Toph felt her walk over to Sokka, "And it wouldn't be the same without someone making fun of Sokka."

"Hey!" Sokka said.

Feeling a grin spread across her face, Toph said, "Yes, maybe I should come with you guys after all."

Toph could feel Aang fly around the room in delight, "Yes!" he cried out, "This is going to be son fun, I can't wait for you guys to meet Naruto he's great!"

"So when are we leaving?" Zuko asked.

"How about tomorrow? It's going to take us a few days to get there. And I want to get there soon!" Aang answered.

"Alright then we'll go tomorrow!" Katara decided, "I can't wait to learn some new waterbending techniques!"

"Oh yeah I forgot to mention guys." Aang started, "They do things a little differently over there. From what Naruto has told me they have to say these chant things and do these hand signs to get their bending to work."

"So it's not exactly bending then is it?" Zuko asked.

"Well to be honest I'm not really sure." Aang laughed, a little nervously.

Listening intently, Toph raised one of her eyebrows. So these people have the same sort of power they do, but it's not exactly bending? Well this is interesting; maybe it was a good thing Toph decided to go after all. Standing up, she told everyone else she was going to pack for tomorrow.

**Naruto**

"Naruto, you're telling me you haven't planned anything for when your friends arrive?" Sakura asked, she shouldn't be surprised, this was so typical Naruto.

"Well you know, been busy training and all." Naruto laughed nervously, "And they won't arrive for at least a week."

"You forgot didn't you?"

Naruto continued to laugh nervously. Sighing, Sakura said, "Alright look. I'll organise where they'll be staying and some things to do around here. Now, you said this boy can use all four elements? Did you think about asking Gaara if they could go to Sunagakure? They'd benefit from being with Temari I think."

Naruto did that fidgety thing with his fingers that Hinata usually did, Sakura shook her head and sighed, "I guess I'll be organising that as well." She said and walked off.

**Gaara**

Filling out paperwork, Gaara stopped when Temari entered, "What is it?" he asked his sister.

"There's a letter here from Konoha, its Sakura. She says that Naruto has some friends coming who can bend the elements. She thought it would be beneficial if they could come here as well, what do you think?"

"Bend the elements?" Gaara asked, trying to figure out exactly what that was.

"I don't know, but I'm guessing it's similar to our jutsu." Temari answered.

"Well yes, these people can come. It will be nice to have something else to do than filling out paperwork all the time."

"I'll get to work on it." Temari said and left.

Gaara was quite curious to see what this 'bending' was, maybe these people could teach him something new.

_**So let me know what you think! If people like this I'll continue with it!**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Since I've got some interest in this story (thankyou all) here's chapter two!**_

_**Disclaimer: I own nothing; **_**Naruto **_**belongs to Masashi Kishimoto & **_**Avatar: The Last Airbender **_**belongs to **__**Michael Dante DiMartino**__** & **__**Bryan Konietzko**__**.**_

**Chapter 2 – Toph**

Toph was getting sick of riding; she wasn't the best when it came to riding on Appa. They hadn't stopped for a break for a few hours and she was hungry, "Are we going to stop anytime soon?" she whined, "We've been flying for five hours straight!"

"Toph please, Sokka only just stopped whinging we don't need you to start too." Katara said, a little exasperated.

"Well since I'm the second to start complaining maybe we should take it as a sign _to stop for a break_. Plus Appa needs a break too."

"I have to agree with Toph here." Zuko said, "We should stop, stretch our legs."

"And I'm with Zuko and Toph." Suki added.

Katara looked at Aang; he was impatient to get to Konohagakure to see his friend, "Okay fine." Aang, agreed "We have been travelling for a while."

Everyone knew that Aang was eager to arrive, but they all needed this break (especially poor Appa!). Jumping off first, Toph 'saw' the surrounding area, trying to get an idea of wherever they were, "There's quite a big city about half an hour away. I'm not sure if it's Konohagakure or not but it probably is." She explained.

"Yes we're almost there!" Aang said happily, "I can't wait for you all to meet Naruto he's a great person!"

Whilst the others were sitting, Toph was walking around them trying to get a sense of this new area which was very different from their home. She couldn't understand why this place was called 'The Land of Fire' when they were in the middle of a forest. When everyone was ready they all hopped back up on Appa, Aang was now getting him to fly quite quickly as he was eager to arrive. After roughly twenty minutes (Aang got Appa to fly that fast he cut the trip by ten minutes) they were finally at Konohagakure! When Toph jumped off she saw three people standing at the gate, one of them must've been Aang's friend Naruto. Though judging by the way Aang flew off Appa and yelled 'NARUTO!' one of those people had to be him.

"I still don't get why we're in a forest if this is called the Land of Fire." Toph mumbled as they approached Aang with Naruto and the two other people.

"Guys this is Naruto!" Aang said when everyone approached each other; Toph wondered what he looked like.

"Hey how's it going?" Naruto asked.

Toph was about to say something when suddenly the girl standing behind Naruto punched him which sent him flying through the air! Toph was liking the girl already.

"That is _not_ how you greet someone!" she chastised, Toph's liking of this girl suddenly vanished, she reminded Toph of Katara.

Naruto slowly came walking back to the group; Toph could feel Sokka and Aang shaking slightly, _what an introduction_ she thought, _two minutes in and mostly everyone is already scared of the girl_.

Aang, wanting to ease the sudden tension introduced Naruto to his friends. When Aang introduced Toph Naruto yelled out, "Whoa check out her eyes! Do you think she could be a Hyuga?" Naruto was reminding Toph of a more hyperactive, annoying version of Aang.

"How is that possible Naruto? Toph isn't from here." The boy standing near the girl said.

"But still, her eyes." The girl added.

"Excuse me but what is a Hyuga? And my eyes are like that because I am _blind_."

"Oh I'm terribly sorry!" the girl said, "Hyuga is a family here; their eyes are almost exactly like yours."

"Are they blind too?" Toph asked.

"Oh no! They can see through everything with their eyes, it's their speciality, and only the Hyuga family is able to do it."

Toph found this place really weird, what kind of family had the same eyes as her yet they could see through everything?

"Sorry what are your names?" Katara asked politely.

That question earned Naruto another punch from Sakura, Toph felt Sokka backing away slightly.

"Sorry everyone." Naruto mumbled when he came walking back to them, "This here is Sakura Haruno and this here is Sai."

Even if Toph couldn't see it was pretty obvious that the girl was Sakura and the boy was Sai.

"Come one guys, let's show you around the village!" Naruto said and he ran ahead, with Aang close behind him.

Toph was walking along next to Zuko when Sakura fell into step with them, "So you're the leader of your country?" she asked Zuko.

Sighing, Toph rolled her eyes. Judging by Sakura's heartbeat she felt for Zuko the same way many of the Fire Nation girls did.

"Wow that's really something!" Sakura said, "And how old are you?"

"Sixteen"

"Oh cool that's the same age as me!"

"Wow you two have so much in common already, I think it's a sign!" Toph said sarcastically before walking ahead to join Katara.

She turned back to face Zuko and smirked. Oh yes, she knew of Zuko's secret feelings towards a certain waterbender. The infamous Fire Lord bachelor was smitten, Toph could feel it in his heartbeat, it took her a while to guess it though. She was certain that Zuko knew she had guessed his feelings, but they never talked about it. After all, Toph wasn't going to tell Katara. Oh no, Toph was going to have too much fun watching it play out (whenever it will start).

Their first stop was at the place where the leader of the village lived, the 'Hokage' the leader was called.

"Hey what are those head statues?" Sokka asked.

"That's all the previous Hokage, except for the one on the far right, that's Lady Tsunade, the current Hokage and my mentor." Sakura explained.

"Yeah and one day the sculpture of my face will be up there!" Naruto added.

"Still got that dream have you?" Aang asked.

"Always!"

When they went inside and up to the Hokage's office, Sakura introduced everyone to Lady Tsunade.

"And welcome to Konoha!" Tsunade said, "I assume everything has been organised, where they'll be staying and who they'll be training with?" she asked Sakura.

"Oh yes ma'am, I've even organised for them to go to Sunagakure to train with Temari. Since Aang here can use all four elements, it would be essential for him to go to Temari."

"Well done Sakura!" Tsunade said, "Now you three go take them around the village, introduce them to your friends I'm sure they don't want to stay up here."

"Oh wait one question Lady Tsunade?" Toph asked.

"Yes what is it?"

"How come this country is called the Land of Fire if we're in a forest?"

Laughing, Tsunade answered, "The Land of Fire is naturally orientated to the element of fire, we usually have bright and warm weather."

"Wow that's different from the Fire Nation." Toph said.

"I'm sorry?" Tsunade asked.

Zuko took over, "Where I'm from is called the Fire Nation, it's surrounded by volcanoes, many still active. The main city is located within a crater from a volcano."

After saying goodbye to Tsunade, Naruto, Sai and Sakura took them around the rest of the village. Their first stop was at a holiday home where they quickly dropped their bags off, they left Appa there to rest after his long flight and Momo stayed behind as well. After that they stopped at a flower shop. Sakura went inside and after a few quick moments she brought someone out.

"This is my friend Ino Yamanaka." Sakura introduced.

When she introduced Zuko Toph sighed yet again, oh great this Ino girl was gaga over Zuko just like Sakura was.

They continued around the village, meeting a lot of Naruto and Sakura's friends, a lot of them pointing out Toph's eyes. When they were with two people called Rock Lee and Tenten and Rock Lee pointed out Toph's eyes and the Hyuga clan was when she snapped, "What is with it with my eyes and this Hyuga clan? Last time I checked my name was Toph _Bei Fong_, not Toph Hyuga! And my eyes are like that because I am _blind_, not because I can see through walls or whatever this Hyuga people can do!"

She could see the person coming before Naruto called out "Hey Neji!" Toph turned to face this new person, ready to give them a mouthful if they asked if she was a Hyuga.

"So what's this about my clan?" Neji asked, that took Toph by surprise.

"Wow I can see why everyone thought Toph was a Hyuga." Aang said looking at Neji, "Their eyes are pretty much the same!"

"Well he can see through walls with his eyes." Toph mumbled, "Wish I could do that."

"But what you can do with Earth is so incredible; you can even bend metal Toph! No other Earthbender can do that, you are the best Earthbender in the world!" Katara pointed out.

Naruto and his friends were confused, "Remember how I told you there's people where we're from who can bend one of the four elements?" Aang asked Naruto, "Well Toph can bend Earth, she's an Earthbender."

"Earthbender?" Neji asked.

Quickly moving into her usual fighting stance, Toph asked, "Wanna find out what exactly that is?" she wouldn't mind a chance to show off her skills.

"Why don't you come to our training tomorrow?" Aang asked Neji, "Then you can see not just Earthbending but all four of the types!"

"I'm sorry but we're going to have to pass. We're about to start a mission." Tenten answered, "Though I would greatly like to see this bending that you do, how long are you staying in Konoha?"

The six of them looked at Sakura, "Well in two weeks Aang is going to Sunagakure, to train with Temari. If all of you want to go you're welcome to."

"What's Sunagakure like?" Suki asked.

"A desert." Naruto answered.

Katara, Sokka, Suki and Zuko all opted out at once; even Aang looked a little disgruntled. Minus Zuko and Suki, their last adventure in the desert wasn't a good one. But Toph wanted to go to this Sunagakure place; it would be good to work on her Sandbending.

"I'll go." She said, "I want to work on my Sandbending."

"Thanks Toph!" Aang said, "I thought I was going to have to go on my own. But I'm definitely leaving Appa here."

No one questioned Aang there.

"Okay so what's happening tomorrow?" Katara asked, trying to steer the topic of conversation in another direction.

"Oh we're starting our training tomorrow!" Naruto said excitedly, "I can't wait to see what you guys can do! And you'll get to meet Kakashi our teacher; he most of the elemental jutsu there is so he'll be your most help in learning some new techniques."

"Wait what about Suki and me?" Sokka asked, "You three will be off fighting with your bending and jutsu and Suki and I can't do any of that."

"Well you can train with me." Sakura offered, "I'll teach you a few things Lady Tsunade taught me."

"Oh thankyou!" Suki said.

"Yeah and when we come back from our mission I'll train with you as well if you'd like." Lee added, "I cannot use jutsu either, I know! I will see if Gai sensei will come as well!"

"I don't think you'll need Gai sensei." Tenten advised.

Toph couldn't wait for tomorrow, she couldn't wait to meet this Kakashi person. He sounded tough!

_**I've tried to make this chapter longer than the first. And I'm really sorry if you're not a Zutara fan, I just couldn't resist ehehe. But don't worry, I won't dwell on them much after all, you're reading this for Gaara & Toph lol. And I know it seems a little slow but Toph & Gaara will be meeting soon!**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Time for chapter three let's go!**_

_**Disclaimer: I own nothing; Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto & Avatar: The Last Airbender belongs to **__**Michael Dante DiMartino**__** & **__**Bryan Konietzko**__**.**_

**Chapter 3 – Toph**

Being woken up early the next morning by Katara, Toph sloped about getting ready for today's training session with Naruto, Sakura and some guy called Kakashi who was meant to be really strong. Aang, being his usual hyper self was flying about the room excited and impatient to get going.

"Why did we have to get up so early?" Sokka mumbled, still half asleep being dragged out by Zuko.

"Agreed" Toph added, yawning.

"Well because not only do we have more time to practise but also that Sakura asked for us to be at the training grounds at seven, and since there's six of us to one bathroom..." Katara didn't need to finish, they all understood.

"Well lucky I have my fresh coating of earth to keep me clean!" Toph said proudly.

It was lucky that Toph was blind otherwise she would've seen the faces that everybody pulled just then.

As they were making their way to the training grounds, they met Naruto and Sakura. When they arrived at the training grounds they all sat down first and got talking about their abilities.

"Knowing Kakashi sensei he'll be late." Naruto grumbled.

"Is he always late?" Suki asked politely.

"Yes, and it never ceases to annoy." Sakura answered, "I told him that we were starting earlier than intended so he shouldn't be _that_ late, hopefully. But you know, we'll just have to get to know each other more until Kakashi sensei comes!" she added, trying to not conspicuously look at Zuko.

"Hey where's Sai?" Sokka asked suddenly, looking around.

"He's with his master, a man called Danzo." Naruto answered, "No one really likes him much."

"What's he like?" Toph asked, but neither Naruto nor Sakura said much about him, Danzo was as much as a mystery to them.

"So tell us about your fighting techniques." Katara said, "I've been curious since Aang explained to us little of what you guys do before we left."

Jumping up, Naruto started, "Oh it's really cool! We do these-"

Sakura cut him off, "Don't you think it's best if I explain?"

Slightly displeased, Naruto let Sakura explain. Toph surprised herself by finding it quite interesting; their power was something called 'jutsu' and they had to do hand signs to get the jutsu to work. And Toph found it even more interesting that there was also elemental jutsu, just like one's own bending power back at home! Also just like the benders back home, the ninja here have an affinity over one element, though some ninja have an affinity over two. Sakura then explained that there were three main types of jutsu: ninjutsu (techniques that utilize chakra-a ninja's source of energy), taijutsu (hand-to-hand combat) and genjustu (illusions).

"But you won't have to worry about genjustu." Sakura said, "Your four" she pointed at Aang, Katara, Toph and Zuko, "Will be working with Naruto and Kakashi when he gets here on ninjutsu and I'll be working with Sokka and Suki with taijutsu."

"So what's that power that Neji guy has?" Toph asked, curious about him and his family, "And how come only his family have that eye power?"

"The Hyuga family speciality is their Byakugan which as you know enables them to see through anything, three-sixty degree vision and much more. The Byakugan is what is called a Kekkai Genkai, a bloodline trait. Kekkai Genkai are only available to a single clan." Sakura explained.

"Are there any other Kekkai Genkai like the Hyuga's?" Zuko asked.

Naruto and Sakura's heartbeat suddenly went really fast, then dropped; Toph wondered what was up with that.

"Did I say something wrong?" Zuko asked, the six of them were surprised at Naruto and Sakura's reaction to Zuko's question.

"There was another family, their Kekkai Genkai is similar to the Hyuga's expect this family's eye speciality is in illusions. Their eye technique is called the Sharingan, belonging to the Uchiha clan." Sakura explained, though it seemed to pain her to do so.

"Can we meet this Uchiha family?" Toph asked, curious to meet more ninja with all these special eye powers.

"Unfortunately no" Sakura answered.

"Why not?" Toph asked.

"Because after an incident quite a few years ago, there's only one Uchiha member left. And he left the village almost three years ago." Someone else answered.

Everyone jumped up in shock, this person just appeared out of nowhere that Toph only noticed him up on that tree branch just a split second before he spoke!

"Sensei don't scare us like that!" Naruto complained.

_Ah so this is the infamous Kakashi _Toph thought, and judging by his entrance Toph knew this guy would be pretty powerful.

"Kakashi sensei this is Naruto's friend Aang." Sakura introduced, she also introduced everyone else to Kakashi.

"So tell me about what you six can do." Kakashi asked, after the introductions.

Everyone looked at Katara; she was the best at explaining things. Katara explained to Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi about where Toph and the others were from. How there are four major nations: Water Tribe, Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation and the Air Nomads. Katara then explained that some people born within these four countries could 'bend' one of the four elements.

"Take myself for example" Katara explained, "Since I was born in the Southern Water Tribe, and I am a bender, it makes me a Waterbender."

Katara then explained that Toph, born in the Earth Kingdom is an Earthbender, Zuko a Firebender and Aang an Airbender.

"But Aang is special." Katara continued, "Where we're from, one person can bend all four of the elements, but only one person at a time. Not only being able to bend all four elements, this person can also communicate with the spirit world. This person is called the Avatar, and this person is Aang."

"Wow Aang, that's really something!" Sakura said, full of awe.

"Told ya Aang's strong!" Naruto said.

"Can you show us what exactly bending is?" Kakashi asked.

This time everyone looked at Aang. Standing up, Aang did some Airbending, Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi all looked dumfounded.

"In all my time" Kakashi mumbled to himself.

"Can you show us some jutsu?" Zuko asked.

Naruto and Sakura looked at Kakashi, expecting him to show them but Kakashi stayed put and suggested, "Naruto why don't you show them your Rasengan?"

Without being needed to ask twice, Naruto jumped up and everyone gasped. Even though Toph couldn't see she 'saw' someone of the exact same weight and height as Naruto, as if there were two Narutos! But how was that possible? After hearing a strange whirling sound, Naruto yelled out 'Rasengan' and Toph felt something fly past her and hit a nearby tree! This time, Aang, Katara, Sokka, Toph, Zuko and Suki were the ones to look dumfounded!

"Wow, bending and jutsu are so very different!" Katara said.

"Though I'd like to be able to bend, being able to do jutsu without hand signs would easy." Naruto said.

"It's not as easy as it looks, _trust me_." Aang said, thinking of his experience learning the three other elements, especially earth.

After talking a little bit more, they split up (Suki and Sokka off with Sakura and everyone else off with Kakashi and Naruto) to work on their techniques and hoping to learn something new off the other. Just as Aang, Katara, Toph and Zuko were about to work with Kakashi, Zuko pointed out that since ninja can only have a maximum of two elemental affinities, then how would Kakashi work with them.

"It's because I have this." Kakashi answered and he showed something which made everyone (except Toph) gasp.

"What is it?" Toph asked.

"This is my Sharingan eye." Kakashi explained, "Yes I know what you're thinking, the Sharingan belongs to the Uchiha clan. This was given to me by one of its members; I cannot use it as well since I am not an Uchiha."

"But I thought the Sharingan was illusions, how is that supposed to help?" Zuko asked.

"You're quite the observant one aren't you?" Kakashi mused, "The Sharingan not only creates illusions, but also copies jutsu as well. Hence why I am working with you four, since I have copied over a thousand jutsu."

Toph was impressed, Kakashi was definitely strong! Kakashi then had a small battle with each of them to see what they did with their bending, he called Toph up last. Standing up and walking over to stand a little ways away from him, Toph stood in her usual bending stance.

"So you're the blind Earthbender, this will be interesting." Kakashi said.

Toph didn't say anything, but smirked. Oh was she going to show him!

They started their battle and Toph felt him go underground. Smirking again, Toph bended herself out of harm's way just as Kakashi appeared out of the ground right beneath where she was standing just before. Before Kakashi had a chance to make his next move, Toph bended so that he'd get stuck between two walls of earth. But she was surprised to feel a log between the walls instead, how in the hell did a log get there? She could feel Kakashi underneath the ground again, this time, she was going to take him by surprise! Feeling where he was going to strike, Toph bended and forced Kakashi back out. Because of the force of that Kakashi was in mid air for a few moments and in those quick seconds Toph bended and she caught him!

"Gotcha" she said, smirking again.

"You're extremely proficient in your bending." Kakashi said as Toph let him go.

"That's because I'm the greatest Earthbender in the world!" she gloated.

"Oh no trust me she is!" Aang said, surprising Toph as she couldn't see the 'as if' looks Kakashi, Naruto and Sakura had on their faces, "Toph's the only one able to bend metal!" Aang continued.

"What?" Naruto asked.

But before anyone had the chance to answer, Toph bended the metal in his forehead protector, resounding in a 'Hey what the?' from Naruto and before he could protest any more Toph bended it back to its normal shape.

"Understand now?" she asked, with a triumphant look on her face.

"To be honest I don't think I could teach you much." Kakashi admitted to Toph, "You are already that good."

"I said that before we left." Toph noted, looking at Aang, Katara and Zuko, "Though I'm supposed to be going to some desert place with Aang, I can work on my Sandbending then!"

"Ah yes I understand, we'll you'll have a great teacher over there if Gaara will be instructing you." Kakashi said.

"Gaara?" Toph asked.

"He's the leader of his village, exactly what Granny Tsunade is but in Sunagakure the leader is called Kazekage." Naruto explained, "Gaara's a real great guy and _very _strong, especially with sand."

"Yeah and I'm learning under someone called Temari." Aang added.

"You two will definitely come back stronger then, Gaara and Temari are very strong ninja." Kakashi noted.

"Well obviously if he's the leader of his village." Toph said sarcastically, which made Naruto and Aang laugh.

They got back to training for the rest of the day, for Aang, Katara and Zuko they found it very different and challenging. Toph sat out, though she didn't mind. She was interested in how jutsu worked, though she'd much rather stick with bending; she wouldn't know what to do if she didn't have Earthbending. She was right about her earlier assumptions of Kakashi, he _was_ strong! He knew a lot of fire and water jutsu which greatly helped Katara and Zuko, and Aang was more or less goofing off with Naruto instead of working on anything. By late afternoon Kakashi called it quits and they made their way to where Sakura was with Suki and Sokka. Toph cracked up laughing when she 'saw' Sokka on the ground out of breath and Suki who too seemed a little out of breath, though standing opposite Sakura with her fan in hand. When Sakura saw them approaching she called it quits.

"FREEDOM!" Sokka yelled, Sakura and Suki rolled their eyes at each other.

They made their way back to the village; Naruto declared that they all go for dinner at a place called Ichiraku Ramen. Kakashi opted out, said goodbye to everyone then left.

"I've been wondering." Sokka said, "What's he look like without his mask?"

Toph almost jumped when all of a sudden she felt Naruto and Sakura fall to the ground, as if dejected for some weird reason.

"Even we don't know." Sakura mumbled.

"We tried to find out once, but it didn't work." Naruto muttered.

When they reached the place the six where staying at, they said goodbye to Naruto and Sakura before going inside.

"I learnt so much today!" Katara said as they went inside, "It's so different here I still can't quite get over it! What did you guys do?" she asked looking at Sokka and Suki.

"Sakura's a real slave driver man!" Sokka said, "She's tough!"

"That's because you're incredibly lazy!" Suki chastised, "I was fine!"

Everyone laughed at Sokka, who had now collapsed onto his bed, "It's going to be worse tomorrow!" he moaned.

"Oh shut it!" Suki snapped and she shut their door, "So what did you guys get up to?" she asked.

Katara explained what Kakashi did with them, they five of them stayed up for a little while and Aang went on a quick fly with Appa. When Aang came back they all went to bed.

**Sakura**

Early the next morning, Sakura was in Lady Tsunade's office helping out with Lady Tsunade and Shizune and organising what she would be doing with Sokka and Suki. She wondered if she was too hard on the two, however Suki seemed just fine. It was Sokka who seemed to have a tough time; Sakura would have to ask them today if she was too hard, after all, she was doing mostly the exact same thing as what Lady Tsunade did with her. Just then there was a knock on the door.

"Come in!" Tsunade ordered.

The door opened and Sakura grinned when she saw who it was.

"Ah Temari!" Tsunade said, "I'm guessing your here for Naruto's friends?"

"Yes my lady." Temari answered, "Gaara ordered me to come since he thought it best if someone take them Sunagakure."

_**Told you Toph & Gaara would be meeting soon, stay tuned!**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**Chapter 4 for you all! Out of my other stories I'm writing I'm enjoying writing this one far too much; I keep putting off the others so I can write this one instead lol.**_

_**Disclaimer: I own nothing; Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto & Avatar: The Last Airbender belongs to **__**Michael Dante DiMartino**__** & **__**Bryan Konietzko**__**.**_

**Chapter 4 – Sakura**

"It's great to see you Temari!" Sakura greeted, walking over to her, "How was your trip over here?"

"The usual, nothing eventful happening. Though that's a good thing." Temari laughed, "Oh yes before I forget." She mumbled to herself and began rummaging through her bag.

"Lady Tsunade here's a letter from Gaara, just to inform you how Suna's progressing and what not." Temari said, handing the letter to Tsunade. She turned back to Sakura, "So tell me about Naruto's friends, I've been so curious since we got your letter."

"Well you'll have two of them going with you-Aang and a girl called Toph. Aang is an Airbender however since he's the Avatar he can bend all four elements, so you'd be great there for his Airbending. Toph is an Earthbender, she can Sandbend so if it's possible maybe Gaara could teach her a few things."

Seeing the look on Temari's face made Sakura mentally kick herself, she was such an idiot forgetting to explain to Temari exactly what they could do! So Sakura then explained to her what bending was and how Aang was special because he was the Avatar. Oh and of course, what the Avatar is.

"Very interesting" Temari said, "Well I'll definitely be working with the boy, I want to see how this bending works. And I'm sure Gaara will be able to teach the girl."

"Well do you want to come with me now to see what they're like? I'm just about to make my way over to the training grounds now." Sakura asked, "Oh and _don't_ mention Toph's eyes and the Hyuga clan, you'll see what I mean." She quickly added.

With Temari agreeing, they said goodbye to Lady Tsunade and left her office to make their way to the training grounds. Sakura then told Temari of the others who had come, "Ooh and wait till you see Zuko!" she giggled, "He's _very _good looking! And single!"

Smiling, Temari said "Oh and don't you just love that huh Sakura?"

"Oh yeah and he'll be staying in Konoha as well!" Sakura clapped her hands together in an excited way, "However it's been hard to deduct what he's thinking, he's always so serious but he seems a laid back person at the same time."

The two girls broke out into laughter whilst they continued on their way to the training grounds. Their topic of conversation soon moved on with Sakura asking Temari how her two brothers were and what things were like in Sunagakure. Soon, they arrived at the training grounds and didn't have to wait too long for everyone to arrive.

"Hang on where's Naruto and Aang?" Sakura asked as everyone approached, no need to ask why Kakashi sensei wasn't there, it was inevitable that he was going to be late.

"Aang wanted to be _polite_ and asked Naruto if he wanted a ride on Appa, so they're riding around the village now. If you hear two loud idiots from the air, you know who it'll be." Katara answered.

Sakura was so going to hit Naruto whenever he came back! How dare he slack off on helping his friends training, that idiot! However, her anger was quickly turned to shock when she saw Sai making his way towards them!

"Sai! It's good to have you here!" Sakura said as he approached, "Oh yes!" she said turning back to everyone else, "Guys this is Temari from Sunagakure." Sakura introduced, and she then introduced Temari to everyone else.

**Temari**

Memorising their names as best she could when Sakura pointed each one out, Temari studied the small girl, Toph. It was lucky that Sakura warned her about Toph's eyes, otherwise it would've been the first thing Temari asked Toph was if she was related to the Hyuga clan in any way. She also wondered why this Toph girl seemed to not like being asked that, it seemed to Temari a completely harmless question. She also now knew why Sakura was crazy over Zuko, he was cute! But too young for her, but there was nothing wrong with looking. Just then a large flying animal landed right next to her, making her jump back in fright.

But before Temari had the chance to say anything, Sakura hit Naruto and yelled, "You idiot Naruto! You're meant to be training with Aang not being stupid with him!"

"Sakura's right Aang" Katara chastised.

"Uh, what exactly is this?" Temari asked, staring at the flying creature.

"That's Appa, my flying Bison!" the boy who Temari guessed was Aang said, "What's your name?" he asked, "I'm Aang!" he grinned, holding out his hand.

"I'm Temari" she introduced, shaking his hand.

"Oh cool you're the person who's going to be teaching me some new things in that desert place right?" Aang asked brightly.

He reminded Temari a lot of Naruto; she now wondered what she had got herself into.

"So when are we going to this Sunagakure place?" Toph asked.

Turning to Toph, Temari wondered why on earth Toph wasn't looking at her when she asked, "In the next few days at the latest, since it's a three day journey."

They all got talking whilst waiting for Kakashi, Temari didn't know he was always late. Sakura, fed up decided that they go train anyway. Sokka and Suki followed Sakura and Temari followed everyone else, she couldn't wait to see some bending in action! Temari sat to the side with Sai and Toph as they watched Zuko and Katara were working on what Kakashi must've taught them and (she shouldn't have been surprised here) Naruto goofing off with Aang. Temari was awed by the bending; it was so different, yet familiar at the same time! She watched Katara move water around her and Zuko creating massive balls of fire. Temari really wanted to see Aang in action, not only to see what he could to but also to see what he could do with air. Sure, that was Temari's nature affinity as well, but Airbending intrigued her the most.

"So why aren't you up there with the others practising?" Sai asked Toph, interrupting Temari's thoughts.

"Kakashi thinks I'm already too good enough so I don't have to do anything." She answered.

Temari found it strange, that like before, Toph didn't look at whoever she was speaking too. What was with that? And, in typical Temari fashion, she straight up asked why.

As if on purpose, Toph turned to look at her, "I couldn't see you even if I was looking at you whilst I was speaking to you or you were speaking to me."

That's when it clicked, "You're blind."

"Obviously!" Toph shot back in a very sarcastic way which made Temari smile, Toph was growing on her already.

Toph then stood up, "Anyway I'm going for a walk around the village. It's boring just sitting here watching everyone else practise."

"I don't understand." Temari said, confused, "You said it's boring watching everyone practise and you want to go for a walk around the village, will you be alright?"

Taking Temari by surprise Toph laughed, "Oh I can 'see' alright, though not the same way everyone else does." She said slyly before walking off.

Turning to Sai Temari gave him a questioning look, to which Sai said, "Toph as you know is an Earthbender, the greatest in fact. That's how she can see, through the earth."

Temari turned back to watch Toph's retreating figure, she wondered what kind of things the girl has had to go through. Temari couldn't wait to see Toph in action; she seemed a force to be reckoned with.

**Toph**

Thinking of her previous conversation with Temari, Toph decided that the girl from the desert place would be someone who she'd get along with quite easily. Toph liked Temari's brashness and how she spoke her mind on what she didn't understand. Yes, this was definitely someone who Toph could become good friends with. Making her way back to the village, Toph wandered around trying to think of something to do. When, feeling through the ground that someone was about to bump into her, Toph did the usual with earth so that the person didn't fall on her.

"Watch it!" she snapped, moving the earth back to the ground.

"Oh I-I'm terribly sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going and-"

But Toph cut her off, "It's fine, just watch where you're going next time because you'll fall flat on your face."

"You're one of the friend's of Naruto's friend aren't you?" she asked, "You're Toph?"

Toph couldn't be bothered with asking how this girl knew her name since she was the only Earthbender around here, "Yeah, who are you?" she asked.

"My name's Hinata, Hinata Hyuga."

"Another one!" Toph said making Hinata jump, "So you must be able to do that awesome eye power stuff like that Neji guy right?"

"Pretty much" Hinata answered shyly.

"So what's there to do around here?" Toph asked changing the subject abruptly.

"Well uh, I was just about to go to lunch with my two teammates; you're very welcome to join if you'd like."

"Excellent!" Toph grinned and she followed Hinata to whatever food place they were going to.

Once at an eatery, Hinata introduced Toph to Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame. Toph was a little freaked to 'see' that there were thousands of bugs in Shino's body; she was going to have to keep her distance from him. She also really liked Kiba's dog Akamaru, which she petted and laughed when he was licking her. She was a little saddened that Akamaru had to wait outside whilst they ate. She quite liked Kiba and Shino seemed okay though he was very quiet, Toph also found Hinata's shyness a little annoying but she was still a nice person overall. Once they finished the three of them walked with Toph back to the training grounds as they too wanted to see what bending was like, Toph was happy because she was able to spend more time with Akamaru! When they arrived at the training grounds Toph felt Hinata's heartbeat go extremely fast for some reason and she became even more reserved and seemed (if possible) even shyer when she said hello to everyone. Whilst people either watched or participated (Kiba joined in with Naruto and Aang having a friendly fight) Toph kept herself occupied with Akamaru. She was also curious when she 'saw' that Katara was talking to Kiba a lot, was something bound to happen there? _Looks like Zuko is going to have to up his game then_ Toph thought to herself. That would definitely be something interesting to watch! They finished when Sakura came back with Sokka and Suki and the whole group made their way back to the village. Temari was staying at a place near where Toph and everybody else were, so she walked back with them as they said goodbye to everyone else.

"Did you two want to go to Suna tomorrow?" Temari asked before she left them.

"As long as Toph's okay, I'm okay with it." Aang said.

"Yeah I'm not fussed either." Toph agreed.

"Okay, we'll meet at the village gates around ten tomorrow morning then." Temari said before saying goodbye and leaving them.

"You two are going to have so much fun!" Suki said, "Sakura told me the Land of Wind is very different to here, even the ninja there have a lot of different beliefs."

As Suki, Sokka and Aang were talking about the Land of Wind, Toph asked Katara slyly about her hanging around Kiba a lot today.

"Oh it's nothing!" Katara scoffed.

Trying not to look at Zuko, for she knew he was listening quite intently Toph said, "Why so tight lipped about it Katara? Have a secret thing happening with Kiba like you did with Haru? Even though you still deny the one with Haru." Toph was only teasing, slighting revving Zuko up, though only so he would start making a move on Katara, before he would regret it. For all Toph knew Katara may actually have feelings for Kiba.

Just as Katara was about to make a snappy retort back, Zuko excused himself which made Toph flinch-maybe she had pushed it a little too far? Oh well, at least she got something moving, whatever that was. It was a shame she wasn't going to be around to see it all play out.

The next morning Toph and Aang were waiting at the gates for Temari to come. Everyone of their gang (including Appa and Momo) were with them as well along with Naruto, Sakura and Sai. Toph could 'see' Temari coming towards them before everyone else noticed.

As she approached Temari said, "Morning everyone, you two ready?" she asked, looking at Toph and Aang.

"You bet!"

After saying goodbye to everyone Toph and Aang followed Temari as they left the village. They stopped every now and then for little breaks and then continued on. And during the nights they'd stop at small villages where they would be able to stay at small inns. After three days of this, they arrived at Sunagakure. It took Toph a little while to get used to the sand, even though she could Sandbend it always felt a little weird changing from solid ground to more soft ground. Temari took them around her home village, showing them where everything was. She then took them to meet her two brothers, and other members of the village.

"Hey Kankuro" Temari greeted as they walked into one of the rooms, "Is Gaara around?" she asked.

"He's in some meeting." Kankuro answered, Toph knew that this one of Temari's brothers as she explained to Aang and her on their way here. Though Toph couldn't remember if he was the Kazekage or not.

"Kankuro this is Aang and Toph, two of Naruto's friends that have come." Temari introduced, pointing each out as she said their names, "Aang, Toph this is Kankuro."

_He must not be the Kazekage then_ Toph though, _then it's definitely the other brother._

"Pleased to meet you!" Aang said.

"What's up?" Toph said as a way of an introduction.

"Hi" Kankuro said, Toph got the feeling he seemed annoyed by her and Aang which was stupid. They'd only just met!

"So whilst we're waiting for Gaara I'll take you to where you're both staying." Temari said and off they went again following Temari around.

Once they had unpacked all their belongings, Kankuro came and informed them that Gaara was at his office now. They made their way back to the office.

"Gaara" Temari started when they were standing in his office, "This here is Aang and Toph, two of Naruto's friends that have come to learn some new techniques."

_**Hope you liked this chapter, quite longer than I intended it to be!**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**Sorry for the slow update, I would've updated sooner but I had this cyclone come & deal with that for a few days. Then I had to organise stuff for the new semester at uni ugh. Anyway, here I am with chapter 5, enjoy!**_

_**Disclaimer: I own nothing; Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto & Avatar: The Last Airbender belongs to **__**Michael Dante DiMartino**__** & **__**Bryan Konietzko**__**.**_

**Chapter 5 – Toph**

Yawning, Toph didn't pay much attention as Temari was introducing them to Gaara, her older brother and the Kazekage of their village. All Toph wanted was to get straight to work on her Sandbending.

"I hope you two had a pleasant journey over here." Gaara said to Toph and Aang.

"Oh yeah it was great, thanks! Temari was very helpful!" Aang said, "She took us to the nice places to stay and the great places to eat!"

"I'm glad you're satisfied." Gaara said.

Passing a letter to Gaara, Temari said, "Here's a reply from Lady Tsunade."

Taking the letter without a word, Gaara put it in one of his drawers then looked back at Aang and Toph, "So tell me what exactly you two want to learn throughout your stay. You're welcome to stay as long as you need of course."

"Well I want to become more proficient in my Sandbending; I've mastered everything else except for Sandbending. I can't be the best Earthbender in the world if I can't Sandbend." Toph noted.

"Don't worry Toph, I'll teach you the best I can."

"You'd better! I've heard a lot of things about you Gaara so you'd better be as tough as everyone says you are!" Toph shot back.

That comment earned a giggle from Temari and a 'Watch what you say' from Aang, and even though she couldn't see (or care for that matter), it earned a small smile from Gaara.

"What about you Aang?" he asked.

"Well I'm happy with whatever Temari will teach me!"

"Also, I'd like to learn some things from you if that's alright?" Temari asked, "From what I've seen back at Konoha you're very strong, I think you may be more of the teacher." She laughed.

"So will we start on anything today?" Toph asked, impatient to get things going.

"You're quite the eager one aren't you? Well I'd rather you and Aang rest from your three day journey first." Gaara answered.

Doing her trademark, Toph blew her bangs off her face in annoyance, was it so hard to start training right this very instant?

"Don't worry Toph you'll soon be working on some new techniques!" Aang said, "Gaara said we're welcome to stay as long as we need, so relax!"

Toph repeated her trademark which she did a few seconds ago and didn't say anything.

"So tell me about where you come from and your bending power." Gaara said, curious to know more.

Aang explained to him all about bending, their home and what the Avatar was and that he was the Avatar.

"Interesting" Gaara said when Aang finished, "I'd like to have the chance to visit your home one day."

Getting excited, Aang jumped up and down and said, "Of course! I'll take you everywhere on Appa! The Fire Nation, the Water Tribes, the Earth Kingdom-

"NOT Ba Sing Se!" Toph cut in, "That city is so boring and dull, take him anywhere but there!"

"What about your home town?" Aang asked.

Shrugging, she answered, "Fine by me, hey! You can come to this local tournament I usually enter and watch me defend my champion title!" she added in some kicks and punches in the air for effect.

Laughing at her, Aang continued, "Yeah I think I'll take you to the Southern Air Temple, since that's where I'm from and all. It was a great place before the war, but that's all behind us now." He finished, a little sombrely.

"I'd like that very much." Gaara said, "And don't forget to bring Naruto, you know what he'd be like if he wasn't invited."

"Oh I won't forget Naruto; after all, he planned this all for us!"

"Correction! Sakura planned it all." Toph cut in, making everyone laugh.

Standing up, Gaara said, "I hope you two don't mind. But I must be excusing myself, there's a meeting I must attend starting in five minutes."

Saying goodbye & leaving Gaara to go to the meeting, Temari took them back to the place they were staying at, "I'll come by later with Kankuro and Gaara if he's got time, we'll take you to this really great place we love to eat at!" She said before leaving.

"Sunagakure is so different to Konoha!" Aang said once the two of them were inside, "I wonder what the other countries around here are like."

"I wouldn't mind going to that rock place that Sakura mentioned the other day." Toph said, to her that place seemed like an Earthbender's heaven!

"Are Konoha or Suna allies with the other ninja countries? I can't remember what Sakura said." Aang asked.

"Neither can I!" Toph admitted and the two of them broke into laughter, "I wonder how the others are going?" she asked once they quietened down.

"Well no news is good news I guess." Aang said, "Though I'm sure they're fine, probably learning heaps from Kakashi and the others though!"

"Yeah you're probably right." she agreed as she slumped onto the couch.

Aang sat down near her and they talked about what they were hoping to learn from spending time here. That evening Temari arrived with Kankuro and they went to Temari's favourite eatery. Just as they sat down at a table Gaara joined them. 

"I hope I'm not too late." He said as he sat down next to Kankuro and opposite Toph, "Meeting ran late."

"No need to worry bro, we've just sat down!" Kankuro said.

As the waitress passed them each a menu, Toph left hers untouched in front of her. She was just going to order whatever Aang was going to order-they both liked similar foods so it didn't really bother her. When the waitress came back, Toph waited till Aang ordered what he wanted and she stated that she'll have the same.

**Gaara**

He watched the Earthbender with great interest; it was her eyes that stood out the most to him. She had the Hyuga eyes, but she couldn't possibly be a Hyuga! Though it wasn't impossible either, maybe she was a distant relation as Toph didn't have any ninjutsu skills at all; it was all bending for her. He was curious as to why when she was looking at people she wasn't really seeing, very intriguing. Even just now, when she didn't even touch her menu, maybe she just liked whatever Aang liked to eat, or she was a very careful person. Toph also reminded him of his sister, she and Temari were like two peas in a pod. Though Gaara liked that about Toph, she wasn't afraid to speak her mind. It was a nice break from all the compliments he received on a daily basis and people being overbearingly nice to him all of the time.

Temari and Aang were talking about things they wanted to do in their lessons, Kankuro joining in here and there. Turning to Toph he asked, "Are you enjoying your time in Sunagakure so far?"

"It's very different, but yeah I've been fine." She answered, without looking up at him to talk.

He was about to say something else when their food arrived, just as Toph was about to eat she said, "There's a table of three girls behind me, their heartbeats have been moving incessantly fast since you've arrived Gaara. I think they like you."

Gaara didn't know how to react to that, sure he knew how a lot of the female population felt about him, but how on earth did Toph decipher that? Temari, Aang and Kankuro were snickering, Toph was back to eating her food as if she couldn't care less (which, by judging what Gaara knew of her already, she didn't).

"So dear brother, any of them take your fancy?" Temari was smirking.

Gaara didn't even look up or reply, instead, he copied Toph and concentrated on his food. Temari, Kankuro and Aang went back to their snickering. When they finished their meal and everyone was ready to leave, the Sand Siblings walked the two benders back to their place. Gaara and Toph, like at dinner were being the quiet ones, when all of a sudden, Toph turned around and yelled out, "I know you're following us, so show yourselves already!"

Gaara and Kankuro looked at Toph in surprise and turned to see the girls who she pointed out at dinner emerge from around a building, giggling.

"How did you know?" one of the girls asked.

"Your hearts are beating so fast and loud it's all I can practically hear!" Toph snapped.

Toph was really full of surprises; Gaara didn't know what to make of it!

"Well what do you want?" Temari asked, not quite politely either.

The same girl who talked earlier, looked back at her friends, ran up to Gaara, gave him a letter and ran back to her giggling friends before they all ran away. Everyone gave Gaara a sly look.

"So what's in there little bro?" Kankuro asked.

Sighing, Gaara opened the letter and read it out aloud, "Dear Gaara, we love you so much. You're the greatest Kazekage ever, love you long time" he sighed again and used his sand to throw the letter in the closest bin.

Everyone broke out laughing, "Alright guys enough!" he said, hoping to calm them all down, he wasn't going to live this down for quite some time that's for sure.

"That's just what Zuko has to go through back in the Fire Nation." Aang said, "Funny you two are quite similar, you're both leaders, you both have that seriousness about yourselves and you're both single. You are single right?" Aang asked, unsure.

"Yes I'm single." Gaara answered.

"He's too busy protecting the village and playing hero, making all the girls go ooooohhhhh!" Temari said in a very girlish voice being sarcastic.

"Alright, alright enough!" Gaara said, "You've had your fun!"

That didn't make any of them stop, in fact it made them laugh harder. Gaara just let them get it out of their system, no use arguing. Once they'd finally calmed down, Gaara asked, "So Toph, have you got Hyuga blood in you? Because you have their eyes and you noticed those girls behind the building."

All of a sudden, Toph cried out in rage and a bunch of mounds of earth started levitating around her, Gaara knew this was 'bending'.

"I AM NOT A HYUGA!" she cried out, "I AM BLIND! THE ONLY REASON I SAW THOSE GIRLS IS BECAUSE I SEE THROUGH THE EARTH! I AM SICK OF EVERYONE ASKING ME IF I'M A BLOODY HYUGA!" she dropped her arms and the mounds of earth dropped to her feet and she stomped off.

Aang, quickly apologising ran after Toph.

"Oh god I can't believe I forgot, Gaara I'm so sorry!" Temari said.

Turning to his sister, he eyed her curiously, "What do you mean?" he asked.

"Sakura warned me just before I met them. Apparently everyone kept asking Toph if she was a Hyuga, her blindness is a sore spot for her. So finding out that she has the same eyes as a clan, yet the clan can see through walls…well you can guess how she would feel. I was meant to warn you but I didn't think about it! I guess I've just grown used to it, ugh I'm so sorry!"

"It's fine Temari." Gaara said, "Now that I think of it it's pretty obvious she's blind, I feel idiotic for not noticing it sooner."

"But surely she'd understand _why_ we'd think she's a Hyuga? Kankuro asked, "Kids…" he muttered.

Looking down to where Toph and Aang ran off, Gaara said, "I should go apologize at least, after all, it was my ignorance that caused all of this."

He bade farewell to his siblings and made his way after Toph and Aang. He went to their place to find the lights on, sighing in relief he knocked on the door.

"Oh hey Gaara!" Aang answered, "Were you worried about Toph?" he asked as he let him in, "Don't worry about it because she's over it now."

Giving Aang a look of surprise he said, "But she seemed so upset earlier, so I came to apologize."

"There's no need to worry, _teacher_." He heard Toph say.

Looking up Gaara saw Toph standing at the hallway, "Apology accepted, I look forward to our first lesson!" she said before turning back and walking down the hallway.

Gaara didn't like that tone, he especially didn't like it how she said she was waiting for their first lesson. He knew this wasn't over yet and that Toph was going to get her revenge.

"How hard do giant mounds of earth feel like?" he asked Aang.

_**Can you please tell me how I went with Gaara's character? I've never written him before so feedback will be greatly appreciated! Will update soon!**_


	6. Chapter 6

_**I am so sorry all for the slow update! Uni had started so I've been all study, study, study. To make matters even more fun I accidentally deleted my fanfic folder with all my plans & what not (& trust me to not save it in two places). So here's chapter 6 for you all to enjoy! Oh, & thankyou for telling me that I got Gaara's character right! I was worried if I got him right or not, thankyou!**_

_**Disclaimer: I own nothing; Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto & Avatar: The Last Airbender belongs to**____**Michael Dante DiMartino**____**&**____**Bryan Konietzko.**_

**Chapter 6 – Gaara**

It had been about five days since Aang and Toph arrived from Konoha, and Gaara hadn't yet had the chance to take Toph out for some lessons. Temari had taken Aang out every day; those two were getting along perfectly, and from what Kankuro had observed, those two gelled pretty quickly as well-though Gaara was expecting that since both Temari and Aang were air users. Unfortunately, he wasn't so lucky with his student. Before they had the chance to get to know each other, he had to ask that "taboo" question for Toph and he didn't know whether she was still angry or not. But he knew for certain that this wasn't the end of it, and he had a hunch that not being able to take Toph out straight away (like Temari did with Aang) to show her new techniques-well this was only adding fuel to the fire. Sighing, Gaara turned his chair to look out the window of his office. He hoped at least that Toph understood why he couldn't take her out straight away like she wanted-because of his Kazekage duties. Oh well, he guessed he'd find out when he finally had the chance to take her out.

**Toph**

Bouncing a ball against the wall, Toph counted five hundred consecutive bounces before she threw the ball off in another direction in frustration. Why was Aang having all the fun and she was stuck doing nothing because her stupid teacher was too "busy" to bother to train her? Standing up, Toph left the apartment because she'd been there for two days and if she had to stay there any longer it would do her head in. She wanted to do some exploring of her own, maybe go annoy Gaara in his office. After all, she was going to get him back for that Hyuga comment, though she really wanted to during their first lesson. She wasn't the Blind Bandit for nothing! Chuckling at these thoughts she wandered around Sunagakure, Toph had the feeling she was attracting quite a few stares but she couldn't care less. 'Seeing' him approach, Toph turned to face Kankuro just as he approached her.

"What are you doing skulking about the place?" he asked, though not in a rude way.

"What's it to you?" she shot back, not going to be pushed around by the middle Sand Sibling.

"Let me rephrase, why are you by yourself? Shouldn't you be with your airbending buddy?"

Growing frustrated, Toph snapped, "Well _sorry_ I've got nothing to do in this place since your brother is too _busy_ to teach me anything!"

"Hey, it's not Gaara's fault he's got his duty as Kazekage."

"Five days!" Toph cried out, "Five days! I should've just stayed in Konoha! Kakashi and his lateness have got _nothing_ on Gaara!"

"How old are you?"

This question took Toph by surprise, why on earth would Kankuro want to know how old she was?

"Twelve, why?"

Muttering something incoherent, he then said, "Nothing you need to worry about, bye now!" and he turned and started to walk off.

"Hey where are you going?" she demanded.

"Nothing you need to worry your pretty little head about" Kankuro called back.

Toph was fed up, when was she finally going to get some fighting in? That was it; she was going to see Gaara now and DEMAND to start their training! She thought she'd had to wait maybe a day or two when Gaara said he couldn't teach her anything straight away, but five? Making her way to Gaara's office, she made her away inside, found his office room and ignoring the polite way of knocking, kicked the door in and stormed inside.

"_When _are we going to start training?" she demanded, "It's been five days, Temari's taken Aang out every day and I've been stuck here doing nothing!"

Little did Toph know that she had just walked in on the Kazekage in a meeting with some of the city's officials, though little did she care, "I should've just stayed in Konoha!" she yelled, not caring less of everyone else in the room, "Some teacher you are, you haven't bothered to teach me anything at all!"

"How does tomorrow sound Toph?" Gaara asked, sounding calm.

That took her by surprise; she was expecting him to shrug it off. She was also hoping for that so she could have a reason to yell at him some more, "Ah yeah that's fine." She answered.

"Meet me here at nine tomorrow morning, is that fine for you?" he asked.

"Yeah that's perfect thanks." She answered, still a little surprised by Gaara's sudden 'get out and go' behaviour, "Well...I'll see you tomorrow morning" she added as she made her way out, "And ah...sorry about the door as well."

"Goodbye Toph" she heard him call out as she walked off.

Toph was excited when she got home; tomorrow she was finally able to start her training with Gaara! Finally she'd be able to show off her skills and get him back after that Hyuga comment!

**Gaara**

Waking up early the next morning, Gaara cancelled all his meetings for the next week so he'd be able to give Toph all of his time. He didn't want her waiting around any longer, what sort of teacher would he be if he left his student around waiting? Hell, what kind of Kazekage would he be if he left his invited guests alone? Getting ready, he left his room to go and meet Toph outside his office like he promised yesterday. After waiting a little while, she arrived looking eager.

"So where we going and what are are we doing?" she asked.

"Follow me, I'll explain as we go along."

The two of them made their way out of the city and into the surrounding desert.

"Hey how come we're going out here?" Toph asked.

"Because I feel that the training areas will be too small of an area, and the sand out here is much easier to handle."

"Well you sound like you know your stuff, let's hope you're good in practise."

Another small, rare smile appeared on Gaara's face. No one had made him smile as much before as Toph had done, "I guess you'll just have to wait and see."

Toph then suddenly frowned, and it took him a quick moment to realise, "I didn't intend it to be-"

"It's fine" she cut him off, "So what are we going to start on?" she asked, moving on pretty fast, well so Gaara thought.

"Show me what you know" he started, "So I know what to work with."

As soon as Gaara saw that smirk on Toph's face, he regretted what he just said. And sure enough, after a few quick movements between the two of them, Toph caught him and threw him upside down.

As soon as he got up Toph was at him again, but Gaara was quickly catching onto her movements & he made a small bit of sand he was standing on levitate up in the air. Catching Toph off-guard, Gaara thought he had it in the bag when all of a sudden he felt a quick sinking feeling, a slight sharp pain in his back and he found himself on the ground again.

"You live up to your reputation" he said as he was getting up.

"I'm not the champion of Earth Rumble for nothing!" she said proudly, standing with one foot on his stomach, "So, where's this exceptionally skilled Kazekage ninja I've heard so much about?" she asked, "Maybe you're all bark and no bite after all."

In one quick movement, Gaara caught Toph's leg with sand and flipped her onto her back, he crouched down next to her, and "Lesson number one" he started, "Never gloat until the fight is actually over.

Instead of a retaliation move like he expected, Toph jumped up and demanded, "Teach me how you do that!"

"So actually want to learn now?"

"Yes, yes teach me how you grabbed me with the sand!"

Gaara then showed Toph how to manipulate sand; they were finally starting their proper lessons.

**Toph**

She had finally gotten back at Gaara, she never really wanted to hurt him but at least she had gotten her revenge and if he was wise he would have learned his lesson. She was picking up quite well on these sand techniques; she was really enjoying herself and was happy that Gaara was finally teaching her something. One day, she wanted a real battle with him, nothing serious, but it would be fun. She mentally reminded herself to ask him later.

Toph soon lost track of the time, but it felt they were only out here for five minutes when Gaara called for a lunch break.

"What? But we've only been out here for just a little while!"

"It's actually been four hours."

"Four hours?"

"Come on" he motioned for Toph to follow him, "You need a break whether you want to or not."

"So what will we be doing after lunch?" she asked, curious and eager to learn more.

"That will be enough for one day."

"What?"

"Well you're picking things up considerably fast and at the rate we're going, you'll probably have learned all you can within a week."

"And is that such a bad thing?"

"Not necessarily, but what about Aang? You'll go around complaining that you're bored, which will pressure Aang into going back to Konoha just to please you."

Doing her trademark blow-the-bangs-off-her-face she said nothing and followed Gaara in silence.

"Hey can we have an actual fight one day? Nothing too serious, but it would be great to see who is stronger out of us!" Toph asked, remembering her thoughts from earlier, "Hey wait I've got it! Let's all go back to Konoha & have a tournament with everyone else back there!"

"As much as that sounds like a great idea Toph unfortunately I don't have much free time. Let alone time to travel to Konoha, I must stay here and protect my village. However, I wouldn't mind a fight with you."

"We should get Temari and Aang to have one as well! We should make it just before Aang and I go back once we've learned everything!"

"We'll ask them if we see them when we get back to the village."

When the two of them got back to the village, a ninja ran up to them asking for Gaara as something needed his attention.

"I'll let you know when we'll train again" he said before leaving with the other ninja.

Feeling slightly put off and annoyed by Gaara having to leave so suddenly, Toph made her way back to where she and Aang were staying. She was to find out that Aang was already home.

"Hey Toph!" he said as she sat on the couch near him, "Temari told me that Gaara took you out for your first lesson! So how did it go?" he asked.

"Fine" she answered, still a little annoyed at Gaara rushing off, "Hey Aang" she continued, "If anyone ever asks me to be a leader for whatever reason, make sure I turn the offer down."

"Ah okay sure" Aang agreed after a quick silence, "Ah Toph, are you okay?"

"I'm fine"

"Well, I know you always talk to Sokka and such, obviously I'm not Sokka but I'm here to listen as well, okay?"

Turning to Aang, Toph smiled and said, "Thanks Aang, I really appreciate it."

_**I hope I wasn't too OOC with Gaara in this chapter, I tried to follow how he was with Matsuri in those filler episodes. Thankyou all & I apologize again for the slow update!**_


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

_**It's good I'm not doing as many subjects this semester as I was last time, giving me more time to work on this story!**_

_**Disclaimer: I own nothing;**___**Naruto**_**belongs to Masashi Kishimoto &**___**Avatar: The Last Airbender**_**belongs to**____**Michael Dante DiMartino**____**&**____**Bryan Konietzko.**_

**Toph**

It had been two weeks since her first lesson with Gaara, and to her it felt like only a day had passed. Toph was finding herself right at home in Sunagakure-even Aang was enjoying himself (though he pretty much enjoyed himself wherever their team were). Today she and Aang were spending the day together as both their teachers had given them the day off (ever since their first lesson, Gaara had been taking her out for training every day since, she loved it!). The two of them were strolling around the place; talking excitedly of the things Gaara and Temari have taught them.

"Yeah Gaara's going to teach me something really difficult during our next lesson" Toph explained, "Well what _he_ thinks is tough" she scoffed.

"Well has he elaborated on what this new technique is?" Aang asked, curious.

"All he's said is that it's something only he's able to do and that there's a possibility that even I may not be able to do it! But as I'm the best earthbender in the world I'm sure it will be nothing_ I_ can't handle!"

Aang didn't answer; he knew Gaara wasn't one to pretend that something was easy. If he said it was going to be hard-then it most likely was.

"Someone's running towards us" Toph noted and just as they both turned to see who it was, Temari was fast approaching them.

"Aang! Toph!" she called out, "A letter's arrived from Konoha, it's from your friends!"

As soon as Temari approached them she handed the letter to Aang.

"Don't forget to read it out aloud so I know what's happening too!" Toph ordered.

"Oh hey cool it's from Katara!" he said happily and then proceeded to read the letter out aloud.

_Dear Aang and Toph, _

_How is everything going over there in Sunagakure? Have you learned lots of new techniques? We're all fine back here; however we all miss the both of you. Kakashi has been teaching Zuko and I lots! I cannot wait to show you what we've learned! Remember those we met on our first day here-Rock Lee, Neji and Tenten? Well they're back from their mission now and Lee has joined with our training! Well mostly he's training with Sakura, Suki and Sokka and from what I know Lee's pushing them really hard. Sokka keeps complaining every time he comes home, but you know what he's like. I have to say Zuko's been acting weird lately, I know he's talked to Sokka about why he's moody (well more moody than usual) as those two are always staying up late (and Sokka wonders why he's running out of energy all the time). But whatever it is, Sokka will not say a word-not even to Suki! And judging by that yes I've talked to Suki about it. But anyway, enough of that, I don't want you and Toph to be worrying about us when you two should be worrying about your training. Anyway, I best be off now. Say hi to Temari for me and kindly remind Toph to not be rude to anyone over there! After all, you're both there thanks to their hospitality!_

_Love, Katara. _

As Aang read out the part of Toph not being rude, Toph blew her bangs out of her face in her usual trademark style. Hmph, she thought she'd get away from Katara's lectures whilst she was over here! Obviously not! However, she was curious as to this whole Zuko situation-though she had a rough idea what it was. Most likely Katara was unintentionally making him jealous, and knowing just how irritable he got...

Sighing, she mumbled, "Dammit I'm missing some good entertainment!"

"Hmm what was that?" Aang asked, not catching what Toph said.

"It was nothing" she answered. Knowing Aang he'd be all 'Toph how could you think of something like that when your friends are having problems?' and then he'd give her some Air Nomad wisdom lecture about inner peace or some crap. Yeah she could skip that.

"So did you want me to show you where the eagles are kept so you can write back to Katara?" Temari asked.

"Sure thing!"

The two benders followed Temari around the city till they reached the eagles. There, Temari left them as she needed to help Gaara catch up with his Kage duties. Even though Toph wouldn't admit it, deep down she felt guilty for keeping Gaara from his duties.

Crossing her arms over her head, Toph said, "Yeah well, since writing and I don't mix. Tell everyone I say hey" she turned to walk off but she 'saw' Aang move to stop her before he grabbed her arm, "Alright what's up?" she asked as soon as he grabbed her.

"There's something else Katara wrote down."

"Ooh what?"

Lowering his voice to a whisper, Aang said, "First please check if there's anyone else around"

Checking the surrounding area, she reassured him that they were alone & then he proceeded to read out the rest of Katara's letter.

_Please don't read this out aloud until you two are alone! It's not that I don't trust any of the Sunagakure people it's just that they may have no idea what's going on or if they do, I don't want them to worry about the both of you knowing this-they probably have enough on their plates already. I fear something is happening here-I'm not really sure what, but everyone here seems worried about a threat from a criminal group. Naruto has already left and I think we may have to leave soon, which is a shame. Before you leave don't forget to ask Temari, that person who's teaching Toph and anyone else that if they want to come visit where we live-that they're more than welcome to!_

"Well that's something" Toph said, to be honest she didn't know what to think. She didn't want to leave so soon, Gaara hadn't taught her everything yet! What about that mega hard technique he was supposed to try and teach her? Minus their somewhat rocky start (even though it was all mostly on her account), they had been getting along really well! He always made sure that she had a technique down perfectly before they moved on. Gaara was a good balance of being a tough teacher and being gentle one, he pushed her during training-but never too hard. He was patient and never complained whenever her usual feistiness made an appearance and whenever she got mouthy with him. He was the perfect teacher for her!

"This is a real shame" Aang said, "Just as we were having so much fun over here as well."

"What should we do?"

After a little thought, he answered, "I think we should not be bothered by this right now. We should just focus on our training. After all, Katara hasn't specified _why _Naruto has gone. He could just be on a mission or something."

"Yeah true that. Also, Gaara, Temari and Kankuro haven't told us anything and if anything had happened I don't think they'd keep us out of the loop."

"Good point!" and with that, Aang wrote a quick message back to Katara, with Toph making him read it out and suggesting additions here and there.

That evening the Sand Siblings were taking out the two benders for dinner. Toph, mimicking what she did when she and Aang were first taken out for dinner by the siblings, ordered whatever Aang ordered.

"So were you two alright with the messenger eagles and everything?" Temari asked.

"Yes we were fine, thanks for showing us what to do!" Aang answered.

"Ah yes Temari told me your friend had written to you" Gaara noted, "How are they all back in Konoha?" he asked.

"They seem alright, though I think that they're being worked quite hard" Aang laughed.

"They're not being worked too hard" Toph shot in, "Sokka's just lazy, _always_ complaining about something..."

This made everyone laugh.

"Oh yes" Gaara started, "Toph will you be alright to start training again tomorrow?"

"Alright?" she asked, "I'D BE MORE THAN ALRIGHT I'M EVEN RARING TO GO RIGHT NOW!"

"But Gaara, what about all that work you still need to catch up on?" Kankuro asked.

"That can wait. When Aang and Toph leave I'll have plenty of time to do it then."

What Gaara just said stung Toph a little, she had to remind herself that Sunagakure wasn't her home (as she really _did_ feel at home here). But why did she let that upset her a little? It wasn't like she didn't know that she and everyone else would eventually be going back home. After all, didn't she initially not want to come on this trip in the first place? Since when did she feel like she wanted to stay all of a sudden?

oOo

The next day Toph got up early so she could be ready for training with Gaara. Saying goodbye to Aang she all but ran out the door and to her and Gaara's usual meeting place. After impatiently waiting for a while, Gaara finally arrived.

"You're here early" he noted, "In fact this is the earliest you've been."

Grabbing him arm and dragging him along (she was that eager to learn this super hard technique), she said, "Less talking and more training! I can't be the best earthbender in the world if I can't learn this technique!"

"Please remember what I've previously said, this is something only _I _can do because of a...power...I used to have, a power that was sealed into me when I was born."

This made Toph stop, what was he on about?

"What do you mean?" she asked, curious.

**Gaara**

Two weeks ago he wouldn't have guessed that he would be telling this little earthbender girl his painful past. But here he was, ready to tell her his dark history. He wondered how she'd react to this. Would she think him a monster like everyone else used to? He decided to start somewhat from the beginning so Toph could understand it easier.

"Over here, there are extremely powerful beasts. They're called the tailed beasts and there are nine of them-each one having an extra tail than the previous one. The first beast is the one-tailed beast, which then goes on up to the nine-tailed beast. Understand me so far?

Nodding, Toph kept quiet and let him continue.

"Now, these beasts are _very _powerful. Many ninja tried to control them for their power. In the end they sealed them into people, these people then becoming jinchūriki."

"You're one of them, aren't you?" Toph butted in.

After a little moment Gaara answered, "I was one, yes."

"Was?"

"It was extracted out of me by this criminal organisation."

As soon as he mentioned criminal organisation a realisation went through Toph's eyes. Did she already know about the Akatsuki? He ignored it and continued, "A while ago now, I was captured by this group and they extracted Shukaku out of me."

"Shukaku?"

"That was its name, the one-tailed Shukaku."

"Why was it sealed into you?"

After another moment's silence, he answered, "My father sealed it within me in hopes that I would become the ultimate weapon for Sunagakure."

Looking appalled, Toph said, "That's outrageous! And by your father no less!"

"What was done was done."

"But what about your mother, didn't she do anything?"

"My mother died whilst giving birth to me."

Looking down, she said, "Oh, I'm sorry."

With a gentle smile, Gaara said, "It's not your fault."

"Well it's a good thing you had Temari and Kankuro by your side!"

"I didn't have anyone; everyone was afraid of me-even Temari and Kankuro. I was alone throughout my childhood; I never even had one friend, no matter how hard I tried."

Looking sincere, Toph turned her back to him and said quietly, "I didn't have anyone either."

"What do you mean?" he asked, curious by this.

"Being born blind, my parents were _very _overprotective of me. I lived a sheltered life; they believed my blindness made me fragile and incapable of looking after myself. They went to extreme measures to protect me-so much that people didn't even know I existed" she paused and continued, "Isn't it funny?" she asked, "That we both lived opposite lifestyles yet we both ended up extremely lonely?"

Suddenly feeling strong emotion towards her, Gaara put an arm around her, "Come on" he said, "I think it's time I teach you this technique."

"Is it because of that tailed beast that you're able to manipulate sand so well?"

"Yes, and it's partly why I wonder if you will be able to learn this technique or not. What I'm going to try and teach you is a sand shield. But not just any normal sand shield, it's going to be extremely hard that not even the strongest bone could pierce it" he explained, thinking of that fight he had against Kimimaro two and a half years ago.

Now standing with Toph opposite him, Gaara did the necessary hand signs to get his Shield of Shukaku happening.

"This is my ultimate defence" he said, "No force has ever been able to penetrate it."

And with that, he cried out 'Supreme Absolute Defence: Shield of Shukaku' and the infamous toy-like structure of Shukaku appeared.

**Toph**

Watching the sand structure with awe, Toph placed her hand against it so she could understand what and how Gaara was able to make it so hard. A sudden thought came to her, she voiced this to him.

"You said that because of that Shukaku you were able to do this, now he's not sealed within you anymore and yet you can do the jutsu just as easily as breathing."

"I'm glad you had finally thought of that, maybe now it will give you more confidence to learn it."

"Hmph, I'm _always_ confident" she mumbled under her breath.

Walking around the structure, Toph was amazed at how hard it was, "You got these minerals from deep underground" she noted, "And then you grinded them with sand particles to make this, how on earth did you do it so fast?"

"Practise" he answered in which she was convinced he was being humorous with her.

Scowling, Toph manoeuvred the earth to copy the Shukaku structure. The result being that she got the structure down pat, yet it was no way near hard enough. This was trickier than she originally thought! What if she couldn't learn it? She couldn't be the greatest earthbender in the world then!

"I am _not_ going to let that happen!" she cried out, setting her resolve.

"Now that you've got that settled" Gaara said and he pointed at the Shukaku structure.

Trying and failing for a few more tries, Toph started to grow frustrated. _How in the hell does he get the sand so hard?_ She thought. There's got to be a way to do this without having a tailed beast within you! That's when she got an idea. Once again putting her hand on the structure Gaara made, she closed her eyes and concentrated on the earth minerals. After this, she took a few steps away and started bending the earth just beneath her feet to create a hole. She kept doing this, going deeper and deeper everytime until she found the particles she wanted. Brining them up to the surface she bended so that the minerals grinded together with the sand. The process took much slower compared to how long it takes Gaara but eventually Toph was standing proudly next to an exact replica of Gaara's sand shield.

"How's that teacher?" she asked proudly, grinning.

"Very well done, now you practise until you can make it as fast as I can."

She just _knew _that he was going to make her do that! Groaning, she got to work.

It took Toph most of the day to get the sand shield exactly how Gaara wanted it. Eventually, she was able to make it as fast as Gaara could, and to be sure of this, he made her make it over and over consecutively (in which he did along with her) so she got it just right. By the end of their session Toph was puffing, sweaty and tired, more tired than she had been in a long time whilst training.

"I have to admit" she puffed, "The sand shield was much harder than I thought it was going to be."

"Well now you can take pride in calling yourself the greatest earthbender in the world. You have just mastered my ultimate sand defence."

"That's because I have a great teacher" she admitted.

If she had known how much that had meant to Gaara right then, she would have fallen over in shock.

"So what next?" she asked, eager to move onto something new.

"Don't you think that's enough? The day has almost ended."

Blowing her bangs, she grudgingly agreed and followed Gaara back to the village.

"Oh yes I've asked Temari about having a fight" he started as they were walking back, "And she'd love to have one!"

"Awesome! It's going to be so fun! I also want to test my skills against what Aang has learned from your sister, I CAN'T WAIT!"

"We'll have to have it once you've both learned everything you can. I am quite interested to fight Aang myself."

"He's strong I'll admit, he beat me when I first met him at Earth Rumble. But I guess he isn't the Avatar for nothing!"

"Indeed"

"So we will be having another training session tomorrow right?"

"Of course, you must keep practising your newfound skills till they become second nature to you like your earthbending."

"GREAT"

Just as they arrived back at the village, they were surprised by Temari, Kankuro and Aang running towards them.

"What's wrong?" Gaara asked as soon as the three of them reached him and Toph.

Looking grim, Temari handed Gaara a letter, "As the Kazekage, you're summoned to a Kage summit in the Land of Iron regarding the Akatsuki and the tailed beasts."

_**I realised as I was writing this that in the Naruto series, Tsunade was unconscious at the time of the Kage meeting. And that the village would still be being rebuilt after Pein's attack when Aang & everyone arrived. But since this is the fanfic world...not everything has to be right ehehe. So please, do ignore my silly mistake & I apologise about it! Ah yes also, I'll be definitely going into Gaara & Toph falling for each other from now on so I may go OOC for Gaara (& most likely Toph) but to be honest I have no idea what Gaara would be like with the person he liked (& since Kishi hasn't really shown us anything about what he'd be like...), I will try my best to not make him (& Toph) too OOC.**_

_**On a side note, is anyone else excited about Legend of Korra? I'm DYING to know who Bei Fong's (Toph's daughter) father is! Maybe it's some random character who oh so happens to look exactly like Gaara... ;)**_


	8. Chapter 8

_**I am so sorry for the slow update!**_

_**Disclaimer: I own nothing;**____**Naruto**____**belongs to Masashi Kishimoto &**____**Avatar: The Last Airbender**____**belongs to**____**Michael Dante DiMartino**____**&**____**Bryan Konietzko.**_

**Toph**

Lying in her bed, Toph relayed yesterday's events over in her head...

"_As the Kazekage, you're summoned to a Kage summit in the Land of Iron regarding the Akatsuki and the tailed beasts" Temari said, looking grim._

_Standing there, Toph couldn't believe it! It was only earlier when Katara warned her and Aang, and they dismissed it as if it were nothing!_

_Turning to Aang and Toph Gaara said, "I'm sorry you two, but my siblings and I must go now to figure all this out. We will talk tomorrow" and with that he left with Temari and Kankuro in tow._

oOo

Frustrated, Toph turned over so she was lying on her stomach with her face buried in her pillow and balled up her fists and threw them down onto the bed. No, no, no, no! It wasn't supposed to happen like this! No stupid criminal group was meant to appear and ruin it all! Who do they think they are? Running around causing havoc thinking they own the place! Causing her and her friends to pack up and go back home! If she ever ran into this criminal group she was going to ANNIHILATE them! Hit first and ask questions later in the good old Toph Bei Fong way!

She was so caught up in her own anger that she didn't notice Aang before he knocked on the door.

"Toph?" he asked through the door, "I've invited Gaara, Temari and Kankuro over for dinner this evening. I thought we could accommodate them for once and that since we're most likely leaving soon, I thought this would be nice for a thank you for all they've done for us. Would you like to help me with the dinner?" he asked.

"I thought they'd be on their way to the Land of Iron by now." Toph called out by her way of an answer.

"When I saw Temari earlier she said that Gaara had made no decision when to leave yet. From what she said he's waiting on something from Konoha" Aang explained, "I also asked her if they wanted us to leave anytime soon but Temari said that wasn't necessary and that we can stay as long as we want, even when they leave we can stay if we want" he continued.

After a slight silence between the two Toph called out, I think we should go back to Konoha right away; no doubt Katara is getting worried about us."

"We can't just leave without saying goodbye! That would be extremely rude of us!"

Damn he got her there, "Fine" she called out, not in the mood for an argument.

Seeing Aang leave, Toph turned back onto her back. Staring up at the wall she tried to think of why she was really upset by Gaara's sudden having to leave. That night when they were all out for dinner she was upset enough about the thought of having to leave. But something had changed now, at first she didn't want to leave but now that Gaara was leaving she couldn't wait to get out of here. That's when it suddenly dawned upon her, sitting up quickly Toph pondered on her realisation. No way, that couldn't be it could it? She couldn't have feelings for Gaara, could she? She thought back over the time she'd spent with him; how she'd get annoyed whenever he had to leave due to his duties, that immense joy she'd feel whenever they'd spend all day training. She had always thought this was due to her loving to earthbend so much, but she realised, that at first it was this. But as she spent more time with Gaara, the more it was that she loved simply spending her time with him. She thought back to her first night here, with those annoying, giggling girls. At the time it was just pure annoyance to her but now the thought of girls acting like that towards Gaara made her jealous. At least she could say that she liked him due to personality rather than looks (she assumed he was really good looking by the way those girls were acting). He was older than her-fifteen. Only a three year difference, but a twelve year old girl must seem so young to a fifteen year old, and with her attitude...

Huffing with annoyance, Toph fell back down onto her bed and curled up into a ball. Why did she have to go and get a stupid crush on Gaara? Why can't she get a crush on someone who wasn't of high importance and who didn't have all the girls going crazy over him? She was reminded of Zuko just then and thought of his feelings for Katara. What if Gaara had a secret crush on someone? She couldn't decipher his feelings easily as she usually would-Gaara was just like Azula in that aspect (not that she had tried to find out whether he was lying, but his heartbeat was always normal). Even if she was able to see and read facial expressions she was sure she wouldn't be able to read Gaara's expressions, he was a very guarded person. This all made Toph even more annoyed so she decided to go outside to earthbend for a while to help get her mind off things.

Walking past the kitchen, she stopped to tell Aang where she'd be.

"That's fine!" he said, "If you're not in by the time those three get here, I'll call you in."

She was about to leave when she saw what Aang was making, well in this case _trying _to make.

"Twinkle toes what are you trying to make?" she demanded reverting to his nickname she gave him.

"Ah...dinner" Aang said giving his efforts a look, "It's not meant to look like this is it?" he asked.

"_No_ food is meant to look like that!" Toph chided.

Going over to where they kept their money, Toph grabbed out a few coins and handed them to Aang, "Go and buy some takeout" she ordered, "I'll clean this mess up."

Leaving a disgruntled Aang to go and buy some takeout Toph took her time cleaning up Aang's mess. To be honest she wasn't really looking forward to this dinner, not with her silly feelings all over the place and having Gaara over here wasn't going to make things any easier. What if he noticed something odd her with her? Ugh this wasn't going to be easy. Half of her wanted to run and hide in her room when they arrived yet the other half was excited of the challenge. For once she was annoyed at her fighting spirit. Soon just before she finished Aang returned and the two of them set everything up as if they cooked it themselves, laughing as it reminded them of the scams they used to pull in the Fire Nation. After a little while the Sand Siblings arrived, and Toph started reciting the alphabet backwards to help keep her concentration-she wasn't going to let herself get caught out! Aang let them in and they marvelled at the food, Toph and Aang caught each other's eye and they tried not to snicker.

"So Aang what have you and Toph made tonight?" Kankuro asked, seating himself.

"Aang did all the work" Toph answered, thinking herself being wise and helping Aang bringing the last few things out to the table whilst Temari and Gaara seated themselves (so she could make sure to not sit too near Gaara).

Once she and Aang had brought everything out, she seated herself at the end of the table as Gaara sat at the opposite end. She mentally thanked herself for being blind so she wouldn't have to look at him whenever she looked up because she would've blushed like mad and get caught out. Soon everyone got into their dinner, complimenting the two benders for their work.

"This tastes just like that restaurant we usually go to!" Kankuro said, "I'm impressed, no one can top that place when it comes to food!"

"Ah...actually I have a confession..." Aang started.

Toph knew he'd crack quickly.

"That _is_ the food from that restaurant" Aang admitted, "I really can't cook at all so Toph and I decided to get takeout."

Everyone started to laugh, Toph didn't hear Gaara's voice amongst them but she wasn't surprised; she'd never heard him laugh before-he was probably smiling or something (which he was).

Once everyone calmed down Gaara started, "Toph I'm sorry that I wasn't able to take you out training today."

"It's fine" she said a little too quickly, everyone looked at her not expecting that reaction (they were expecting one of her usual outbursts).

"Have you taught her patience as well?" Aang whispered to Gaara.

"I heard that!" Toph snapped, "Just because I'm blind doesn't mean I can't hear!"

"So Toph I can take you out training tomorrow if you wish." Gaara suggested, quickly trying to change the subject.

"Shouldn't you be on your way to the Land of Iron place?" she asked.

"I'm pretty sure the other Kages haven't left their villages either. They're all pretty suspicious of each other."

"What is this meeting about exactly?" Aang asked.

"The Akatsuki" Temari answered.

"The what?"

"The Akatsuki are a criminal group made up of missing-nin from all over the place. They're the ones who've been extracting the tailed beasts" Gaara answered in a very serious manner, "From what we know there used to be ten of them but most of them have died now, we're not sure if they've recruited any new members or not." _**(A/N: I'm not sure/can't remember if Suna knew about Sasuke & his team being a part of the Akatsuki)**_ and he went on to describe what the Akatsuki got up to.

"They sound pretty serious" Aang noted.

"They sound like the old Fire Lord" Toph added.

"They actually killed me." Gaara said.

"WHAT?" the two benders cried out at the same time.

Toph couldn't believe that! Gaara, dead? But how on earth was that possible?

Gaara then explained, "When a tailed beast is extracted, the jinchūriki dies. That happened to me, and then an old elder of this village used this jutsu and transferred her life force into me. She died of course."

Toph couldn't believe what she was hearing; she had no idea what to say to something like that.

It was Gaara who started to talk again, "So Toph, will it be alright if I take you out training tomorrow?" he asked.

"Oh, ah yes. Thank you" she answered, completely forgetting that he had asked that question previously.

After a while the Sand Siblings eventually left and Toph helped Aang clean up.

"Is everything okay Toph?" Aang asked, "You seemed...not yourself tonight."

"I'm fine" she snapped, then sighed, "I just wish Katara was here right now." She said, she really needed some girl time with her, Katara would understand.

"Aww don't worry we'll be seeing her soon, and I miss them as well" Aang said, not getting what Toph meant at all (for which she was glad).

The next day Toph for the first time didn't get up early so she could meet Gaara. She was lucky she did this because after a few minutes of waiting when she arrived at their usual meeting place he turned up and told her he wouldn't be able to train her today and apologised because he had too much to work on for when he left for the Kage meeting.

"It's fine" Toph said with no emotion, "You need to put your village first anyway. After all, isn't that what being a Kage's all about?"

"You're right, anyway I must be off; I'll see you tomorrow" he said before turning to leave.

"Gaara, wait!" she called out.

Stopping, he turned to look back at her.

Looking down at the ground, she mumbled, "I'm really sorry about my behaviour and how I treated you when Aang and I first arrived".

"What was that?" he asked slyly.

Knowing what he was playing at she turned her back on him and crossed her arms, "You know perfectly what I said! And don't expect me to say it again!" and she stormed off.

oOo

It had been three days since Toph saw Gaara last, she and Aang had been home throughout for they neither saw Temari or Kankuro about either.

"I really think we should be leaving" Toph noted, "Those three are always busy and they don't need us to worry about, and don't get me started on Katara."

"You're right; I think it's best if we leave soon."

oOo

Having all their things packed and ready, the two benders were about to leave and find the Sand Siblings when there was a knock on their door.

"How funny!" Toph heard Aang say, "We were just about to go and look for you three!"

Coming out her room (she was checking to see if she'd left anything) Toph 'saw' the Sand Siblings standing in the main room.

"You've come to tell us to leave" Toph stated, again with no emotion.

"Toph!" Aang started but Gaara cut him off.

"In a sense, but we'll be leaving with you, some of the way at least. Temari will accompany you all of the way back to Konoha" he stated.

The two benders nodded.

"Thank you for all you've done for us" Aang said, "I couldn't be more grateful."

"I just hope we've been adequate enough teachers" Temari said.

"Adequate?" Toph started, "You guys have been awesome; you've both taught Aang and I so much!"

"I'm just sorry you two couldn't stay longer and that we've all had to leave so suddenly" Gaara said.

"It's fine" Aang said, "Oh yes, before I forget!" he continued, "Whenever you guys want to you're more than welcome to come to visit our home! I'd like to show you guys around where we're from; I think you'd all like it."

"Thank you Aang" Gaara said and the siblings helped the benders with their last few items and left Suna with the whole village there to say goodbye to Gaara and to make sure he's safe whilst they're away.

Much to Toph's annoyance there were a lot of annoying girls crying and acting stupid, she couldn't wait to get away from them.

oOo

During their second day of travels was when Gaara and Kankuro parted with Temari and the benders. To Toph's surprise she found herself somewhat alone with Gaara, how on earth did this happen?

"Best of luck at the Kage meeting" she said, thinking of a way to distract herself so she wouldn't get flustered around him.

"Hopefully it will go well; if the other Kage are willing to co-operate with each other. The Akatsuki is more of a threat than borderlines."

"Well think of it like this: if Aang, a twelve year old kid can bring nations together then it isn't as hard as it seems."

"But Aang's the Avatar."

"You're a Kage aren't you? A position everyone looks up to, the same as the Avatar, you see?"

She couldn't see the look Gaara was giving her right now. She wondered what he was thinking about.

Just then Kankuro called out to Gaara, telling him that they should get a move on.

"There's something I must tell you" he said, "The reason it took me a while to leave for this meeting was because I didn't want to leave your company. I find you a charming girl and I really enjoyed spending that time with you."

And before Toph had a chance to comprehend what Gaara had just said, he turned and leaved with Kankuro with a quick goodbye to Temari and Aang. When his words sunk in she was convinced he meant that she was a great person-no romantic notions. After all, he was such a reserved person why say all of that? She pushed this to the back of her mind as she approached Temari and Aang; she wasn't going to be bothered by any of it.

"We'll have a break, then continue on to Konoha" Temari said.

"Sounds good!" Aang said happily, he was excited to see everyone again.

oOo

**Aang**

The first thing he noticed when he got back to Konoha was Sokka's outfit. Why was he in a green jumpsuit? He voiced his thoughts out loud.

"Well when you and Toph were away Neji and his team returned; remember them? Well their mentor Gai supervised some of our lessons and he and Lee told me that if I wore this jumpsuit it would make me stronger! I have to admit it's much easier to move around in" and Sokka then started to flex his muscles and move around a little to prove his point.

Giving Zuko a look, he seemed to know what Aang was thinking and warned, "Don't ask".

"So tell us, how was Sunagakure?" Katara asked and Aang got excited and told them what he and Toph got up to whilst away.

"Toph you're being unusually quiet, didn't have a good time?" Sokka asked.

"I had one of the best times thank you very much" she answered a-matter-of-factly and turned away from the rest of the group, her mind on other things.

"Ah, is she really okay?" Katara whispered.

"I think so; she's been like that for a little while actually. I think it's a really girly thing because she told me she wished you were with us. You talk to her okay? You're good at stuff like that" Aang said.

Giggling, Katara agreed to talk to her.

"Oh hey where is everyone by the way?" Aang asked, "I know Naruto's away but what about Sakura?"

"She's gone on a mission with Kiba, Sai and Lee" Zuko answered, "We've also decided to leave tomorrow, if that's alright with you two" he continued.

"Yeah it's fine" Aang answered.

"Good" Toph said.

**Katara**

The next morning they were all ready to leave. They said goodbye to their friends who were still in Konoha, inviting them to come and visit whenever they wanted. When they got everything ready, Appa lifted off and Katara had to admit she missed the flying feeling with Appa and was glad that they had a long journey back to their home.

"Oh no!" Toph suddenly said.

"What is it?" Katara asked, slightly worried for her friend.

"I'll tell you later" she answered. Little did Katara know was that Toph was just reminded of the fight she and Gaara promised to have along with Aang and Temari.

Giving Toph a drink, Katara caught Zuko's eye and he looked away quickly. He'd been ignoring her a lot lately and it was really starting to get on her nerves. She hadn't done anything to upset him! She was definitely going to get to the bottom of his weird behaviour, and soon.

After about an hour of flying Aang stopped to give Appa a rest, and as per usual Toph was the first one to jump off. Katara followed her and was going to talk to her.

"What's up?" she asked when she reached Toph who was sitting by a small stream.

"I've gone and got a stupid crush" she answered.

Katara blinked, this was the last thing she expected from the blind earthbender! A crush? And Toph of all people!

"On who?" she asked.

"Gaara, he was Temari's brother, the Kazekage of his village and my teacher."

"Wow Toph I didn't expect that."

"It's nothing I'm going to worry about; I just didn't want to grow feelings for him. Crushes are annoying you know that?"

Chuckling, Katara had to agree, "So what are you going to do about it?" she asked.

But before Toph had a chance to answer, she was up on her feet in a flash, "Someone's coming!" she said and ran back towards the others and Katara followed just as quickly.

"Is everything all right?" Suki asked when she saw the two girls running towards them.

"Someone's coming!" Toph said again, "I don't know who they are but they're moving pretty fast!"

And right then a figure emerged from behind a tree. Katara and everyone else moved to their usual fighting stances, ready to fight. She studied the person; he was in a black cloak with red clouds and wore an orange mask with a swirl pattern mask.

He started to laugh, "Well it's about time I've found the mysterious benders! I'm a good boy so I make sure I follow out my orders!"

_**I'm sorry if this has any mistakes it's a quarter to two in the morning but I really wanted to finish this & a little lazy to proofread it (I know, I know, not good). As I stated in the previous chapter, I may have gone OOC with the characters but I don't know what they'd be like when they'd have feelings for someone (& after all this is a Gaara x Toph fic lol).**_

_**I have two thanks to give out: the first to theninetailedkitsume for giving me the idea of Gai & Lee tricking Sokka with the jumpsuit and to Noel Ardnek for the idea of the Akatsuki going after the benders!**_

_**Again, it's off track with the Naruto manga (but it's not a fanfic for nothing lol).**_

_**Also, I apologize but I've got exams coming up so I've got to put my studies first (so most likely another slow update, ugh I know I'm really sorry!). But this week I do have a week off so I'll get to work on the next chapter straight away.**_

_**On a side note: Anyone know of Legend of Korra has been confirmed of its delay till 2013? ARGH will be HIGHLY annoyed if it's true, after all, it was originally meant to air sometime this month!**_


	9. Chapter 9

_**I am so sorry for the extremely slow update! My exams finished yet then I got so many shifts at work (fun Christmas times whilst working in retail). I am so sorry everyone!**_

_**Disclaimer: I own nothing; Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto &Avatar: The Last Airbender belongs to Michael Dante DiMartino & Bryan Konietzko.**_

**Katara**

Studying the weirdo in the cloak, she realised that this man was one of them – that Akatsuki group. Katara remembered Sakura telling her that Akatsuki members wore black cloaks with red clouds. How on earth did this man know about her and her friends? Interrupting her thoughts, Zuko spoke.

"Why is the Akatsuki curious with people like us?" he demanded, "Shouldn't you be worrying about the Jinchūriki?"

But before the man had a chance to answer, Katara watched Toph cry out and charge him!

"Toph wait!" she called out but Toph didn't hear as she started to attack the Akatsuki member.

Toph bent two large moulds of earth to crush him, but he dodged it with lightning fast speed – as one second he was about to be crushed and the next second he was standing next to the mound laughing! Toph then went for his feet but he only jumped up into the air and landed on a nearby branch.

Katara was just about to help her when Zuko pulled her back, "What are you doing?" she demanded, trying to break free of his grip.

"This isn't our fight."

Turning back to watch Toph, she realised that Zuko was right. Toph was extremely angry for some unknown reason; she was fighting with her usual extreme skill and Katara noticed that she was also using sand, not just earth. Was that something that Gaara taught her? But something also was amiss: this Akatsuki guy was dodging EVERYTHING! Katara had never seen anyone able to dodge Toph like this – only Aang! Katara watched the Akatsuki man dodge Toph's attacks, she gasped when she realised what he was doing. How was that even possible? How can someone disappear into thin air? Was this man even human? All of this was making Toph even angrier.

"Stop being a coward and fight me properly!" she was crying out, "What too afraid to take on a blind girl?" she continued.

"I can't watch this anymore I have to help her!" Katara said, breaking free of Zuko's grip and running in to help her friend.

But just as she did that Toph bended her back, "Stay out of this!" she demanded, "This freak's mine!"

Aang, who was closest to Katara, helped her up, "Do you know anything about this Akatsuki which would make her this angry?" Katara asked him, curious as to what these two got up to in Suna.

"I cannot say. The only thing I can think of was that she was upset when she found out they killed Gaara-"

"What?" Sokka butted in.

"I'll explain it later" Aang huffed.

As he continued Katara realised why Toph was angry: it was because of this Akatsuki that they all had to leave and since this Gaara was the leader of his village; he had to leave for that Kage meeting just like many other ninja. So Toph was this angry because her time with him was cut short? Katara had to admit that this fight was such a Toph tactic that she shouldn't be surprised at all.

"You're right" she said, turning to Zuko, "This is Toph's fight however..." she paused and looked back at the Akatsuki weirdo, "Besides his vanishing act something's not right."

Just as she said that, said Akatsuki member appeared back and just as Toph was about to attack him Aang blew him away with a great gust of wind.

"And what was that for Twinkle toes?" Toph demanded.

"He was just toying with you Toph, he only wanted to see your bending skills and how good of a fighter you are. We should get out of here right away before he comes back and keep a sharp eye out." Aang said, turning into his leader mode.

"I agree" Suki said, "Leave as fast as we can, there may be more Akatsuki members around."

Agreeing, the group packed up their things and Appa lifted off.

"I'll get him next time" Katara heard Toph grumble.

**Tobi**

Watching the creature fly off with the benders, Tobi chuckled to himself.

Turning to Zetsu he ordered, "You're the only one who can do this part. After all, there's a war I need to plan."

"As you wish" Zetsu said, grinning. And with that he left.

When Zetsu left Tobi looked back to the benders, now he knew which one was the one that they called the Avatar.

"And you will soon be mine" he said quietly to himself before turning to leave.

**Sakura**

Staring at her sleeping teammates, Sakura couldn't believe she just did that. But it had to be done; she had to do it for Naruto! She had to get him out of this pain that she caused! Standing up and getting ready to go, a Leaf ninja appeared right in front of her, startling her.

"I am sorry to have startled you like that" he said.

"No, no it's fine."

The ninja was about to say something when he spotted her teammates.

"First watch" she quickly said, hoping that would convince him.

Apparently, it did, as he went right back to what he was just about to say, "Those bending friends of Naruto have been attacked by the Akatsuki."

"WHAT?" she exclaimed loudly, making Kiba stir.

Glancing at him quickly, Sakura focused her attention back to the ninja.

"Your friends are fine; they're on their way back on that Bison as we speak."

"And of the Akatsuki who attacked them?"

"We've been informed that it was that one in the mask."

"Tobi" she said with concern, remembering the time she and the others encountered him for the first time, _I knew he'd be back on the scene soon, but why go after Katara and the others? It doesn't make sense!_ She thought to herself.

Looking down at her teammates, she asked, "Is anyone free to warn Katara and the others?"

"Neji Hyuga and Tenten have been dispatched after them. If needed they will also travel back to the Avatar's homeland."

Sakura had to admit she wished that she could have been on that mission, she really wanted to know what the Fire Nation, Water Tribes, Earth Kingdom and the Air Temples were like.

"That is good to know, thankyou" was all she said.

The ninja said goodbye and left. Double checking to make sure her teammates were asleep (and safe), Sakura then left; wanting to continue this as it was her own little promise to Naruto.

**Katara**

Everyone was a little on edge as they stopped to rest for the night thanks to that Akatsuki man attacking them earlier. Katara along with Suki dragged Toph so they could have some serious girl talk.

"Now" Katara started as the three of them sat down, "Tell us about your feelings for Gaara."

"WHAT?" Suki yelled but Katara shushed her.

Hugging her legs whilst sitting and grumbling, Toph started, "I realised all so suddenly...this stupid crush on Gaara..." she paused and continued, "He's a great person! He's really patient whenever I'm annoyed...and you know what I get like whenever I'm angry and stuff..."

Suki then squealed with delight and pulled Toph into a hug, "Aww our little Toph's all grown up and getting crushes!"

"Okay, okay I got it!" Toph said angrily and pushing Suki off her, making Katara laugh.

"But he's the Kazekage of his village and all the girls love him...a lot like Zuko is actually..." Toph continued, "And he'd be able to find some mature kickass ninja girl to fall in love with...not some mouthy, blind twelve year old kid!"

Sighing, Katara and Suki looked at each other.

"How old is he?" Suki asked.

"Fifteen"

"Well three years is nothing!" Suki said, hoping to change Toph's mind.

"But I'm still just a kid!" Toph pushed.

"Well why not wait for a few years and then when you think you're old enough go back to him?" Katara suggested.

"And find him loved up, married with kids with the perfect family? Ugh no thanks"

Katara and Suki looked at each other again; they were not going to get through Toph at all when she was like this. Well, not for the moment at least.

"So what about Zuko?" Toph suddenly asked.

"What do you mean?" Katara asked.

"Figured out why he's being so moody lately?"

Katara had a sneaking suspicion that Toph knew exactly why Zuko was being moody. She looked at Suki to see if she knew anything, but Suki only shrugged.

"Well then?" she asked, curious.

"I think you should ask him that. After all, it's not really my business" Toph answered before walking off.

"That girl" Katara sighed, shaking her head as Toph was walking away.

However she was right, Katara was going to have to talk to Zuko to see why he was being so moody lately.

**Toph**

Kicking stones as she was walking along, she was thinking about that Akatsuki fellow. According to the others he was disappearing into thin air! But how could that happen? And what did he want with them? Well no matter, next time she, Toph Bei Fong will be ready for him! She wondered what Gaara was up to now. Were he, Temari and Kankuro at that Land of Iron place or whatever yet? Would she ever see him again? And what was up with that weird thing he said to her just before they parted ways? Ugh why did she have to care about all of this? Why couldn't she just care about the upcoming Earth Rumble tournament she was going to enter as soon as she got back to the Earth Kingdom?

As she was musing, she could feel two people running towards her. They were a little way away, but moving fast. Thinking it was the Akatsuki; she stood up and got ready to fight. This time she was going to win!

Feeling that they were getting close enough, she got ready to throw some serious earthbending action at them! Just as they got close enough Toph was about to trip them when she heard, "Toph wait!"

Stopping, she was surprised to find that it was that Hyuga boy and his teammate she met in Konoha just before she and Aang left for Suna!

"What are you two doing here?" she asked as the two ninja approached.

"Lady Tsunade sent us to protect you all on your way back" Tenten (Toph just remembered their names) answered.

"Like we really need protecting" Toph said.

"We're more here just to help you and make sure you all get back safely" Neji explained.

"Well come on then I'll take you to the rest of the group" she said and motioned for Neji and Tenten to follow her back to the others.

When they reached the camp Toph got the shock of her life when she saw Katara and Zuko sitting a little away from the campfire talking to each other with the both of them smiling! Well about time those two sorted it out!

"Oh hey what are you two doing here?" Aang asked happily as he jumped up to greet the two Konoha ninja.

Neji and Tenten explained to the others why they were here and they were all happy to have them come back to their world. Aang was chatting away excitedly telling them where he'd take them.

"I'm pretty sure we're not allowed to stay for that long" Neji said.

"Well it's at least a five day journey; you two are going to want your rest before you head back to Konoha" Sokka said.

"I'm sure Lady Tsunade wouldn't mind us being gone for too long" Tenten said, looking at Neji.

"As long as we're back before anything major happens because of that Kage meeting" Neji affirmed.

The group then got talking about the Akatsuki threat on them.

**Temari**

Just as she, Kankuro and Gaara were about to enter the Kage meeting, Kakashi suddenly appeared in front of them (must've been one of his shadow clones)!

Curious as to why he was here, she asked, "Kakashi, what's going on?"

"I cannot talk for long as I've got to deal with Sasuke with Naruto. But I thought it best that you three know: Aang and his friends were attacked by Tobi from the Akatsuki, so far we know that they are alright. Neji and Tenten have since been dispatched to help them."

Standing there, frozen from shock, Temari thought of Toph and her student Aang. She really hoped that they were okay! She felt a little easier since Neji and Tenten were going to be with them. She turned to look at her brother Gaara, he and Toph grew quite close and he really cared for her.

Even though her brother looked okay, Temari knew him too well to know that he wasn't okay, not at all. Gaara was staring at the floor, and she could see that his hands were balled up into fists and shaking ever so slightly.

But instead of growing in a rage, he simply said, "At least Neji and Tenten will be with them."

Kakashi nodded, then said goodbye and his shadow clone poofed **(A/N: Sounds weird, I know. I couldn't think of a better word to describe a shadow clone...ah...poofing...away) **away. The Sand Siblings stood there in silence for a moment and then Gaara motioned for Temari and Kankuro to move forward.

When Temari passed Gaara she heard him say softly, "It's times like these where I wish I wasn't Kazekage so I could go and protect people."

She really wanted to talk to her brother, but right now they were in official mode – personal matters had to wait. She wondered what Gaara thought about Toph, sure he cared for her but was there something possibly...more there? However, she pushed this out of her head as she entered the main room with her brothers and where the other Kage were waiting.

**Toph**

They were finally back home! Toph grinned as they walked through the streets of the Fire Nation heading towards the Royal Caldera City. She was laughing as they passed his fan girls; who were crying at the sight of Zuko and Katara holding hands.

"So what do you think?" she asked Neji who was walking along with her. The two of them were talking about Toph's blindness and how she used this to her advantage.

"It's so different to Konoha; I think I could enjoy this place however."

"Ooh then you'd so have to come to the Earth Kingdom! Ba Sing Se's boring as hell but where I'm from is pretty fun! You can even see me in action in Earth Rumble!"

"I may have to save that for a second trip, I worry about what this Kage meeting's going to bring."

Ugh, during her excitement of being back home she forgot about that stupid Kage meeting. Way to bring her mood crashing straight back down.

They all continued walking, and soon enough they reached Zuko's palace. As the gates were opening, Toph felt something coming out of the ground. Just as she turned around someone screamed, causing everyone to look. Some weird plant like person was coming out of the ground!

"Oh no not again!" she heard Sokka groan.

Wondering who it was, Toph didn't need any explanation when she heard him speak.

"I've got them Tobi, it's all up to you now" he said and as soon as he did he disappeared at that same Akatsuki guy who attacked them earlier appeared!

The benders including the two Konoha ninja got in their fighting stance, Toph had to admit as much as she was pissed off to see this Tobi guy again; she was excited to see this Byakugan in action!

_**I will get to work straight away on the next chapter as I'm sure you're all sick of my incredibly slow updates! But my work shifts are back down to normal & I'm pretty much free till the end of February! I'll upload the next chapter ASAP!**_


	10. Chapter 10

_**Oh look a fast update! Well a fast update for me at least ehehe. Thought I should mention that this chapter starts just after Sasuke invading the Kage meeting & him killing Danzo/Team 7 reunion etc. Fair warning: this may/ be most likely askew with the Naruto manga timeline but I've tried to keep it accurate as possible. Oh & another fair warning to those who aren't up-to-date/don't read the manga (I'm not sure if the anime is up to the war yet): this will contain spoilers. Enjoy!**_

_**Disclaimer: I own nothing; Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto & Avatar: The Last Airbender belongs to Michael Dante DiMartino & Bryan Konietzko.**_

**Tobi**

Using his Space-Time Migration, Tobi made Sasuke appear.

"And how am I supposed to fight? I'm pretty much blind" Sasuke immediately said once he was out of Tobi's pocket dimension.

Smirking underneath his mask, he said, "I want you to stay out of this fight till the time is most fortunate" he paused and continued, "Now, when the chance comes I want you to take that bald boy with the blue arrow on his forehead. But be careful, he's the Avatar."

"So these are the people we've been hearing so much about lately, and what makes you think the Avatar will fight by our side?"

"Who said anything about choice?" Tobi asked, making Sasuke 'hmph' with approval.

**Toph**

"Wait for them to make the first move" Zuko advised Toph, who was raring to fight; she blew her bangs off her face in annoyance.

"Who's that guy with them?" Sokka asked.

As the others saw, Toph felt. Where and how did he get here? It was as if he appeared out of thin air! Was this Tobi person able to teleport people as well with that weird power of his? Surely it must've been, after all it was the only logical explanation she could think of.

"That's Sasuke Uchiha" Neji answered.

"That one who betrayed your village?" Katara asked, "From Naruto and Sakura's old team?"

"The very one"

To be honest Toph couldn't care less who he was! To her he was another reason why her precious time with Gaara was abruptly cut short; so she was going to take him down either way! Yet there was another reason why she wanted to fight him – she heard him say he's blind and that he couldn't fight; well she was going to teach him a lesson or two!

"He's mine" Toph said, smirking.

"Toph..." Katara started but Toph cut her off.

"He said he's blind; that will make it even grounding" she said, her smirk growing bigger.

A good reason Toph was blind: she couldn't see the looks her friends gave to each other whenever she made comments similar to what she just said.

Smirking, Neji said, "Uchiha is in need of a good smack around if you ask me."

"With pleasure" Toph said in a malicious manner.

Feeling the Akatsuki guy move first, Toph got into action! Bending some earth as if to make it she was going after him, she manoeuvred around everyone else till she was standing in front of the Uchiha boy.

"Hello? Is there someone there?" she asked, waving her arms out in front of her putting on her poor little blind girl act.

"Hmph, you can't fool me earthbender, I know you can see through the earth" Sasuke said.

Damn this guy was smarter than she thought, she now wished she payed more attention when Naruto and Sakura told them about Sasuke. All she really remembered was that he had some eye power.

"Well now that my little secret's out, I guess there's no use holding back!"

And with that, Toph made this huge mound of earth fly at Sasuke. As soon as he dodged it she made another one fly at him. When he landed she grabbed his feet with the earth making him fall upside down.

"What where's this _really strong_ Uchiha I've heard so much about?" she cried out, "I've already got you! I could crush you with a single movement of mine hand!"

"Not quite!" she heard him cry out.

Guessing that he was attacking from above as she couldn't see him anywhere, she quickly went underground just as he made to hit her and she went back above ground as Sasuke fell to the ground.

"I forgot you ninja had those little tricks up your sleeves" she said, thinking he must've used a replacement jutsu or whatever they were called. This was going to be slightly tougher than she thought.

All of a sudden she could feel Sasuke trying to do something to her, was on earth was he trying to do? Play mind tricks or something as that is what it sure felt like! Only, it felt as if nothing was working.

Just as she was about to ask what he was doing she heard Tobi cry out, "Watch yourself Sasuke! Your eyesight's already bad enough!"

Oh so that's what it was! That mind trick thing that the Uchiha clan could do with their eyes! Toph couldn't believe she completely forgot about it! This made her smirk appear on her face again.

"Ooh is this the big mind control that only you Uchiha can do?" she paused and laughed, "Oh you people make me laugh! You all keep forgetting that I'm blind!"

She went to attack him again, getting more fired up since Sasuke's little Sharingan attempt. However every time she got him Sasuke would only use the Body Replacement Jutsu making Toph grow even more frustrated.

"I underestimated you!" she admitted whilst throwing a mound of earth at him, "But however you're not as strong as you think! You rely too much upon your eyes & look at where it's led you! It's made you into a coward!" she cried out.

"Why you-" Sasuke was about to say and retaliate with Chidori but Tobi cut him off.

"Now's the time Sasuke!" he cried out.

Not seeing Sasuke's smirk at her Toph turned and saw what happened to her teammates: everyone was out! They were all on the ground and passed out! What the hell happened? Was Tobi really that strong? She didn't have any time to think as what she saw freaked her even more: Sasuke grabbing Aang and taking him away with Tobi! Completely forgetting that she hated flying, Toph ran over to Appa.

"Come on we've got to get back to the ninja and find out what's going on!" she cried out.

Just as she was about to jump up onto Appa's back, she noticed Neji stirring. Running over to him she used her earthbending skills to carry him up to Appa's back. She then climbed up, called out "yip yip" making Appa fly off.

Turning to look at her friends she sighed, she had to go after Aang right away there wasn't any time to get them back to their usual fighting selves!

"What's going on?" Neji asked a little drowsily.

"Sasuke and that Akatsuki weirdo have taken Aang! I-I had to leave straight away, I didn't have time to help the others and you were the only one stirring and you know the way back so-"

"It's fine, I understand" Neji said, cutting her off.

"Why would they want Aang? I understand he's the Avatar and all but..."

"Tobi's going to use him as a weapon, for what reason I cannot say. But I have my suspicions."

"And those are?"

"I have a feeling that the Akatsuki are going to start a new ninja world war, I cannot think of any other purpose of why they'd want Aang."

Toph grew more worried, "Let's hope they don't find out about Aang's Avatar state; then we're in big trouble!"

"Avatar state?"

Toph quickly explained what the Avatar state was to Neji.

"That's not good, especially when the Akatsuki have so many of the tailed beasts."

"What do you expect to be there when we get back?" she asked, slightly worried as to what she was getting herself into.

"I cannot say, let's just hope that something good has come out of that Kage meeting."

The two didn't converse much after that, besides going over some minor plans they'd made. They travelled on throughout the days and would only stop during the night. Appa had this newfound stamina but Toph wasn't surprised at all – he wanted Aang back as much as they did. As they started to make their way into the ninja world, there were signs of battles.

"So it has started" Neji said and he activated his Byakugan.

As they moved further into the land, the battle sites got bigger and few ninja were popping up now and then.

"Should we go to Konoha first?" Toph asked, "Find out what's going on and where everyone is exactly?"

"Good idea"

oOo

Landing in the middle of Konoha, Toph followed Neji around (after all, this was where he knew exactly what to do). They made their way to a big complex, she wondered where they were. Soon enough, Neji found someone.

"Cousin, tell me what's going on!" Neji asked, desperate for answers.

When he addressed this person by "cousin" Toph then realised that they must have been within the Hyuga complex or something – and it was quite a large place! The luxuries of being one of the strongest Konoha clans she guessed.

As the Hyuga explained that there was indeed a Fourth Shinobi World War, Toph sighed. She and Neji were right after all and she grew even more worried about Aang.

"Tell me where the main battle is" Neji asked.

"From what I know the largest group is somewhere near the Land of Lightning but there are other, smaller groups scattered about the place."

"Thankyou cousin!"

And with that Toph followed Neji back to Appa.

"We've got to hurry; we're already five days behind Tobi and Sasuke who knows what they've done to Aang!" Neji said as she and Toph climbed back onto Appa and they all flew off.

"How long is it to the Land of Lightning?" Toph asked.

"Two days at the least, let's hope that they're not too far from the Fire's borders."

oOo

They had finally made it to the Land of Lightning and Toph was growing impatient and annoyed as she couldn't see anything and had to rely on Neji.

"Anything?" she asked.

"Nothing yet"

Blowing her bangs off her chest, Toph wondered where on earth the battle could be. It was the same with when they came back to the ninja land yesterday – the further they moved in the bigger the battles looked.

"Another war" she sighed, "As much as I love conflict this isn't something I'm looking forward to."

"No one said you needed to fight, just get Aang and leave as quickly as possible."

"Oh I'm sure there's a thing or two I could do to make it better for your side before flying off" she snickered, thinking of her plan to get Aang. This made Neji smirk.

They continued on in silence when all of a sudden Neji jumped up.

"I see some Konoha ninja! And wait...what's this...how is that possible?"

"What?"

"They're fighting ninja who I swear have died already! What is going on?"

"Dead?" Toph asked, trying not to think logically about the possibility of that at all, "So they're...zombies or something?"

"That seems most like it..."

"Should we help these guys?"

Sitting back he answered, "As much as I want to, no. Our main priority is the main group; that is where Tobi will most likely be with Aang."

Like before, they continued on in silence. There was a slight dread growing within Toph – no one said anything about damn zombies!

oOo

Just as she thought they were never going to find the main group, Neji suddenly cried out, "I see them! They're roughly a kilometre away!"

"Great we're just about there!" Toph was now starting to grow excited.

A few ninja tried to attack them as they got closer but their attempts were easily deflected by the earthbender. When Temari realised who it was she made them stop and when they landed she was the first to approach the two.

"Why are you back? She demanded, "And where's everyone else?"

"That Tobi weirdo attacked us and he took Aang. I'm here to get him back."

"I'm going to find Hinata and my Uncle" Neji said, "Thankyou for bringing me back Toph" he continued.

"Thanks for being my eyes!" she said, giving Neji a punch (she had explained to him a few days earlier that to her that it meant admiration).

"Hinata's in the Second Division" Temari told Neji, "They'll be along the northern coast of the Land of Lightning's peninsula."

"Thankyou Temari" Neji said and then left.

"Okay so any appearance of Tobi?" Toph asked, now in her fight mode, "He and I have unfinished business."

"Not as we know of yet."

"He's mine!" Toph demanded, "No one touch him!" she continued turning around to face the ninja surrounding her, "He's got someone very important to me so no one touch Tobi till I get my friend!" she demanded.

Letting her inner-girl in, Toph turned to Temari and asked, "So where's Gaara?" she asked, curious about him and hoping he was okay.

"Over there" Temari pointed, sounding a little grim, "Fighting our father."

Sensing Gaara all too well, she turned to face where he was standing. However she noticed something was wrong. Why...why was he crying? She had to go over there straight away! No wait – Aang! Mentally slapping herself she turned back to face the Akatsuki's army where she noticed a large army who all had the same stature as that plant Akatsuki person...or...thing. She voiced her concerns to Temari.

"You're right" Temari started to explain, "Somehow Zetsu of the Akatsuki has done that to himself and he's very hard to fight."

"I'll take care of them" Toph said, again thinking of her plan, "Actually it's best if Appa and I get ready now."

Making her way over to Appa, Toph advised Temari again, "Make sure no ninja on your side fire at Appa and me alright? I've got enough to concentrate on without worrying about attacks coming at me left, right and centre."

"You've got it; I'll also deflect attacks from the other side if they aim at you!" Temari said.

Thanking her, Toph then went back atop Appa and took off. They flew high above the battle, waiting for Tobi to appear. After what felt like five thousand years a man suddenly appeared holding Aang.

"About time!" Toph cried out, extremely impatient from waiting, "Ready Appa?" she cried out.

Hearing Appa roar in response, Toph grinned, "Well here goes!" she cried out and she jumped off.

_**Ehehe yeah as I previously stated, this will most likely be askew with the Naruto manga. As soon as I've uploaded this chapter I will also get to work on the next one straight away as I really want to finish this story before/if that SOPA/PIPA thing comes into act. There's not much more to go now – just two more chapters (well planned, but that may be subject to change lol). Rest assured I am near the end though.**_


	11. Chapter 11

_**As I stated last chapter, this will be askew with the Naruto manga & contain spoilers. I know I'm a little late with what I stated in the previous chapter where I said I'd upload it ASAP...but as I was writing this one the SOPA/PIPA act didn't go through (yay!) so I took my time with this one. Enjoy!**_

_**Disclaimer: I own nothing; Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto & Avatar: the Last Airbender belongs to Michael DiMartino & Bryan Konietzko.**_

**Gaara**

Dealing with the Second Mizukage who started to fight as soon as he sealed off his father, Gaara was surprised to see Naruto standing next to him! Well, what must have been one of his clones as he noticed that there were a lot of Naruto clones about the place. After conversing for a little and the Second Mizukage telling them that he and Naruto made a good duo, Gaara finally sealed the Second Mizukage.

Turning to a shinobi he ordered, "Report to headquarters that the Second Mizukage and the Fourth Kazekage have been sealed."

When the shinobi left Gaara turned back to Naruto, "So where is the real you?" he asked.

Before Naruto had the chance to answer, Temari came running over to them, "Gaara look above you, quick!" she cried out.

Looking up, he did a double-take. What on earth was Toph doing falling towards the ground? What was she doing here in the first place? A thousand feelings ran through him as he watched her fall and just as he lifted up his arm to create a sand barrier to catch her, Temari grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

"Temari what-" he started but she cut him off, "No this is all a part of her plan! Tobi from the Akatsuki followed Aang and everyone back to where they come from and attacked them! He then took Aang and brought him here!"

Growing angry, Gaara frowned and looked up at the shinobi holding Aang, "Everything that the Akatsuki are doing is appalling. First they ally with Kabuto who's revived a lot of dead ninja and then they steal the Avatar and bring him into this war!"

He turned his attention back to Toph, more new feelings growing within him which she has stirred. Watching her, he quickly guessed what she was intending do to (if a teacher of Toph Bei Fong didn't know her ways then they weren't deserving of being called her teacher!).

"Alright" he started, "As soon as Toph hits the ground I want you all to go after that shinobi, create enough diversion as to not get in the way of Toph but enough so that the shinobi forgets Aang for a few quick moments."

As everyone got into their positions Naruto said, "That ninja's mine". The way he said that was very reminiscent to Gaara of the way how Toph was usually like when she was in her kick butt mode.

Turning to face his friend, Gaara understood how Naruto must have felt. After all, Aang was one of Naruto's closest friends.

**Toph**

Plummeting down towards the ground, Toph concentrated on the earth which she was rapidly approaching. She had to do this right; if she didn't she would most likely die. Just as she reached the ground she braced herself and aimed her total concentration at the earth. When she landed, she used her earthbending skills to multiply the force of her impact to pretty much destroy the surrounding terrain _**(A/N: Think of Sakura using her strength)**_. This force took out the majority of the Zetsu army who were about to attack the Fourth Division. As soon as she did this; many of the allied ninja began to attack the shinobi holding Aang. Still feeling a little off colour thanks to her jump, Toph almost fell as she stood up but luckily someone caught her in time.

"Are you okay?" she heard Gaara's voice ask.

Toph was sure that she was blushing, _push these thoughts out of your head you idiot!_ She thought to herself, _now's not the time to turn into a fan girl! Aang, think of Aang! He's the reason you came all this way back!_

"Ah yeah, I'm fine thanks" she said, pushing herself out of his arms which felt really good, "Talk to you soon!" she continued, before quickly making her way up to where Aang was.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Appa flying close by, good he was in position already! Just as she was about to reach the ninja and Aang, she used the earth to get good spring in her step and similar to her jump from before – she jumped up into the air and landed right next to Aang.

"Toph!" he said happily, "I'm so glad-"

"You can thank me later" she said, cutting him off, "Right now my only concern got to get you out of here."

Deep down she was a little worried to fight him, and even though she was never going to admit it - she was no match for him, not when he had that Houdini act or whatever going on. To be honest she didn't want to fight him at all. All she wanted was to get Aang and leave as quickly as possible.

"Hmm so the earthbender's back" he said with amusement.

His voice made Toph stop – he sounded different yet why was his stature just like Tobi's?

Standing in her ready-to-kick-butt stance (in case he was going to attack), she demanded, "Who are you?"

"I am Madara Uchiha"

Smirking, she said, "You're lying, Tobi"

Changing back to his Tobi voice, he laughed, "I'm going to have to make myself blind so I can be just like you."

"I'd love to see you try!" she shot back and with that she threw a huge wall of earth up, turned back to get Aang and when Appa got close enough the two of them jumped up and they flew away from the war.

"Bye Aang!" they heard Naruto call out.

"Bye Naruto!" Aang called back, "Make sure you come to our home okay?"

"You betcha!" they heard Naruto call back.

As Aang and Naruto were waving and yelling at each other; Toph too was looking down. She didn't see Gaara watching her with such an intense look in his eyes that she would've thrown an earth mound at him for looking at her like that.

After a little while of riding and they were quite a far from the battlefields was when Aang spotted Tenten and guided Appa to the ground.

"Tenten!" Aang cried out, jumping off Appa, "Are you okay? How's everyone else?"

"All fine thank you Aang. We were a little shocked when we woke to find you, Toph and Neji gone, so I've been en route back as fast as I can."

"Sorry I needed Neji to be my eyes" Toph said, walking over to the two of them, "Tobi and Sasuke had taken Aang, you were all knocked out and Neji was the only one coming round."

"Why on earth would Tobi and Sasuke take you?"

Top and Aang glanced at each other, and Aang explained the whole situation to Tenten.

"What?" she almost yelled, looking taken aback, "I'm sorry you two but I really need to be going now, I've got to go and help everyone!"

"It's fine" Aang reassured, "And thank you for everything you've done for us."

"You two are very welcome!" Tenten said and she gave them both a hug and then left.

"Come on" Toph motioned, making her way back over to Appa, "The quicker we leave this place the better. There may be other zombie ninja or Akatsuki lurking around."

"And I thought our world was chaotic" Aang said, "These Akatsuki make old Fire Lord Ozai and Azula look like sunshine daisies!"

"Not exactly" Toph added, "Remember how Zuko told us about when he got his scar, that his old man was willing to sacrifice all those soldiers or whatever? And I think Azula could give the Akatsuki a run for their money, well when she wasn't psycho at least."

"Imagine if they all teamed up!"

"Let's be glad they can't" she said, not wanting to think about the consequences if they did.

As the two climbed up Appa and flew off, Toph groaned, "Oh god they're going to _murder_ us when we get back! They'll think we went off gallivanting or something!"

"I'm pretty sure they'll understand when we explain the situation. And Neji's not the type to goof off...well at least I get that vibe off him."

**Katara**

Pacing back and forth, Katara stopped and groaned, "Ugh, where could those two have gotten off to? It's normal for Aang and Toph, but _Neji_?"

"Come on Katara" Sokka started, "We were attacked by the Akatsuki again, I'm pretty sure those three wouldn't just go off for a little joy ride on Appa just for the fun of it."

"Maybe they wanted to give Neji a ride back?" Suki suggested, "Oh no wait they wouldn't have left Tenten."

"They would've gone after the Akatsuki" Zuko stated, "You know what Toph's like – and especially how she was all fired up about that one called Tobi."

"That makes sense" Katara agreed, giving her boyfriend a smile.

Yes, Zuko was her boyfriend now! She was absolutely shocked when he confessed to her! Finally his strange behaviour whilst they were in Konoha made sense! And not that she was looking too far ahead into the future or anything...but if on the occasion they ended up having children, she wondered what they'd be like: waterbenders, firebenders, Katara's look, Zuko's look...a mix of both. She had never known of any inter-racial couples or children, it was definitely a curiosity to her now!

Just then Iroh came rushing in (he was visiting from Ba Sing Se), "Aang and Toph are back everyone!" he called out, "This is a cause for tea!" he continued.

"Thank you Uncle!" Zuko said and everyone went out to see the Avatar and the earthbender.

**Toph**

As soon as she and Aang jumped off Appa, the questions came flying at them.

"What happened?"

"Where did you three go?"

"Why didn't you wake us?"

Getting fed up, Toph shouted, "Alright alright SHUT IT!" and when everyone went quiet she and Aang explained what went down.

Katara surprised Toph by hugging her!

"I'm so sorry!" she started, "I thought the three of you left to go and be stupid somewhere! We should've gone after you!"

"No, it's not our war" Zuko said, "We need to focus on our home."

"Zuko's right" Sokka added.

Even though she didn't say anything, Toph wouldn't have minded going back – anything to be with Gaara again!

oOo

Later that evening after having tea with the whole group courtesy of Iroh, Toph was chatting with Katara and Suki about Katara and Zuko now being together.

"I knew it! I knew it!" Toph said excitedly, "I knew Zuko had a thing for you! About time you two got together!"

"So Zuko told you?"

"Nah, I just felt his heartbeat whenever he was around you. I think he knew I knew though."

"So did you see Gaara when you went back?" Suki asked. She loved it that Toph was letting her feminine side in and getting crushes, it was a good experience for her.

Frowning, Toph whined, "Must we go back to this again?"

"Yes we must!" Katara said, teaming up with Suki.

"But it's so annoying being all girly like this! And yes I did see him! I was in his arms and it felt really great!"

Katara and Suki squealed in excitement.

"You're so in!" Suki said happily, "Ugh I wish we could go back straight away so we can get you two together!"

"Haha you're so funny!" Toph said, her words dripping with sarcasm.

"We've got to get him over!" Katara said, "As soon as the war's over!"

Sighing, Toph interrupted, "He's a Kage; he won't be able to come straight away. He will need to meet with the other Kage to get their world back to order and the Sand as well. Then he'll need time to mourn the dead and I shudder to think of all the paperwork he's going to have to do! And this is only if they win, don't get me started on if they'll lose! He'll probably die!"

"Don't say stuff like that" Katara said softly.

Toph was getting fired up again, "But it's true! He may die! I'd rather be realistic than get my hopes up! And I shouldn't even be worrying about all of this because I'm not going to end up with him in the end!"

"Regardless whether or not you two become a couple; he's your friend so you shouldn't be saying this. You will be _devastated_ if he dies Toph, and that's not just because of your current feelings towards him. You two became really close friends, so don't act so blasé about the war" Katara continued with a sharp tone in her voice.

Blowing her bangs, Toph stood up and walked off with Katara's words still in her head. Katara was right, of course, but Toph was never going to admit it. Walking out into the gardens; she was still thinking about the possibility of Gaara dying. Crying out in anger, she punched a wall causing it to fall down. _If you die Gaara, I'll somehow resurrect you and kill you again for letting yourself die!_

_**I know the war part may seem a little...well little. But everything I wrote for it I didn't end up liking. It was either too much dragged out, it didn't go how I wanted it to be or would go really askew with the Naruto manga. So I left it with neither Toph nor Aang fighting at all. **_

_**I know I said that this was the second last chapter & that may be subject to change, but I think that this will definitely be the second last one. I can't believe it that I'm at the end now! And funnily enough I've had the end planned out as soon as I started this story lol & I'm quite keen to get started on it. Till then!**_


	12. Chapter 12

_**Okay here we go the final chapter! I cannot believe I'm finally here! Thank you all so much who've followed this story/favourite/reviewed & put up with my incredibly slow updates! And also another thank you to those who've contributed & given me some great ideas! I would have updated this earlier but my laptop shat itself so I had to get a new one & buy Office & what not (all that jazz). Alright, let's get this going shall we?**_

_**Oh yes on a side note, this chapter does not follow the Naruto manga at all. So pretty much all the events are made up…& yes…from how I'd like the manga to go ehehe. So ah there's going to be some SasuNaru slash (I'm sorry I couldn't resist)! But as with Zutara, I won't go into very much detail. And I've also put in other pairings that I like – sorry if you don't like them but as I previously stated: I won't go into any detail! And don't forget: Gaara will most likely be OOC & those spoilers!**_

_**Disclaimer: I own nothing; Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto & Avatar: the Last Airbender belongs to Michael DiMartino & Bryan Konietzko.**_

**Naruto – six years later**

"I'm so bored dammit!" Naruto cried out, flopping back into his chair, "Who'd knew being Hokage would be so boring!"

"Well Naruto, the job's not all about being heroic" Sasuke stated.

Eyeing his boyfriend, Naruto knew Sasuke was right. Naruto had been the Hokage for six months now. After the war old Granny Tsunade thought it best that he become Hokage; especially after his efforts during the war and getting Sasuke back to their side thanks to their mutual feelings for each other and a little help from Itachi. Itachi didn't last much longer after he knocked some sense into his little brother, and he desiccated and died (again) peacefully in Sasuke's arms. Naruto would be forever grateful for what Itachi did. Sasuke was soon at peace; however he didn't want to come back to Konoha. But thanks to the efforts of the Konoha eleven and Sai, Sasuke was convinced to come back home. Many of the villagers and older ninja were still suspicious of him, so kept to himself as much as he could. But as time went on, they were slowly getting over Sasuke (it helped greatly that he was Naruto's partner as well).

"Sasukeeeeee!" Naruto whined, "Let's go do something exciting!"

"And what do you have in mind?"

"Well I've done all the crap paperwork I have to, and there's not much need for missions anymore since all the villages are at peace with each other….Hey! I've got it! Let's go somewhere!"

Before Sasuke had a chance to answer Sakura came in with Sai and Lee in tow (Sakura and Lee were now an item).

"What's this about going somewhere?" she asked, sounding interested.

"That's it I've got an even better idea!" Naruto cried out and he turned to Sai, "Sai! Can you find Shikamaru for me? I'm pretty sure he doesn't leave back to Suna till tomorrow, go and find him for me!"

"I'm on it" Sai said and with that he left.

Naruto then turned to Lee and asked, "Lee! Go find the rest of our friends and bring them all here!"

"Got it!" Lee said with a salute and left.

"Naruto what are you up to?" Sakura asked.

"Let's wait for everyone to get back I don't want to explain myself twice."

Sakura and Sasuke looked at each other, too used to Naruto to question his motives.

When everyone had assembled, Naruto started, "We're all going on a holiday!"

Shikamaru was the first to talk, "Naruto, I've got to leave for Suna tomorrow". Shikamaru and Temari had finally gotten together after the war, everyone was not surprised and the new couple were met with, "about time" other than, "congratulations". He now lived in Sunagakure, but every now and then he came back to spend the weekend in Konoha and sometimes the Sand Siblings joined him.

Turning to Shikamaru, Naruto said, "Go back and bring Gaara and the others with you. They're coming whether they like it or not. I'll even make an official Hokage statement if I have to."

"Where are you thinking of going?" Kiba asked; who was quite keen for a holiday with the whole group.

His enthusiasm dropped with that question, "I ah…hadn't thought of that" he admitted sheepishly.

He then got the typical, "NARUTO!" thrown at him. He was glad however that his friends still treated him the same since becoming Hokage (Sakura still even punched him every now and then!).

After everyone has quietened down, Tenten spoke up, "How about to Aang's world?" she suggested.

"Who?" Naruto asked, ignorant for a quick moment. For that ignorance he was earned a punch from Sakura.

"One of your closest friends you idiot!" She started, "The _Avatar_, the one who came to visit with friends! The one who got dragged into our war! The one who unlike you I've bothered to keep in touch with!"

"Ah yeah, I figured it Sakura" he said, rubbing his cheek.

"I'm with Tenten" Neji said, speaking with his usual calmness, "The Fire Nation is a very nice place, I'm confident we'd all enjoy our time there."

Everyone agreed, all excited to visit Aang and the others and to see what their home is like. Sasuke was as well, which he told Naruto later within the privacy of their home; that he wanted to apologize for his actions during the war.

"And with that" Shikamaru started, "Will guarantee Gaara coming with us."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.

Shikamaru didn't say anything, he simply smirked, "Don't worry about it Naruto, just be reassured that he won't say no."

"Who are you going to get to look after the village once you've gone though?" Sakura asked, ever thinking of everything, as usual.

"I'm sure Granny Tsunade wouldn't mind being Hokage again for a little while. If she can't I'll get Kakashi sensei or someone else. Don't worry Sakura I'll get it all sorted!"

With that Sakura was sure that _she_ would be the one ending up having to organise everything, as usual.

**Toph**

Standing in front of a mirror, she sighed, "How do I look?" she asked Katara.

"Beautiful" Katara answered, whilst tugging on her hair.

"Ouch!" Toph cried out.

"Well if you let me cut it…"

"No! I like having my hair long!"

"But you complain every time I do your hair!"

"That's because you tug at it too much! And you wonder why Kya screams every time you touch her hair!"

Kya was Katara and Zuko's daughter. She was three years old and had more of Katara's features though she had Zuko's skin tone and hair. She was named after Katara and Sokka's mother, not only for Katara but also for Zuko, as she was the reason they became friends.

"So when are Sokka and Suki getting here?" Toph asked, impatient for those two to come, especially since she had some great jokes to tell Sokka.

"They should be here already; they're probably helping Aang and Zuko setting up for your party."

That's right it was Toph's birthday! She was turning eighteen! And even though she couldn't see it, she had definitely grown into a woman. Curves had appeared, her face had a more mature look to it and she was definitely catching the attention of boys – not that she cared. Toph only cared for one boy, and he hadn't even bothered to keep in touch with her since the end of that war. She wrote to him a few times but he never replied. She understood he would've been busy with his Kage duties, but still! It had been six years! And it's not hard to send a letter! They heard from Sakura at least once a month! It wasn't as if she was expecting him to randomly show up and whisk her off into the sunset, but a reply would be nice.

Pushing thoughts of Gaara out of her mind, Toph focused on the upcoming Earth Rumble tournament in three days' time. She skipped out on the last two as she happened to be either in the Fire Nation with Zuko, Aang and Katara (Zuko and Aang were planning to build a major city to be called Republic City and will be welcome to people from the four nations…well three) or she was in the Southern Water Tribe spending time with Sokka and Suki. So naturally, she had lost her championship title; it was time to win it back! And she wasn't missing this tournament for anything!

"All done!" Katara said happily, "I wish you could see yourself, you look really pretty!"

Even though she couldn't see, she still stood there staring at herself in the mirror. Turning to Katara she said, "Thanks Katara" and she made her way to leave, "Let's get this party started!" she yelled, all thoughts of Gaara disappearing and party mode taking over.

When they made it out into the gardens Toph cried out with delight when she 'saw' who was all here: of course team Avatar, but then there was Iroh, Master Jeong Jeong, Master Pakku with Kanna, Master Piandao, King Bumi, Ty Lee, Mai, the rest of the Kyoshi warriors, The Duke, Pipsqueak, Teo and his father, Haru, Hakoda, along with The Boulder and The Hippo!

"Everyone's here!" she cried out in delight, and with the "happy birthday Toph" she went around and mingled, asking everyone how they were, what they were up to and what not.

She joked with The Boulder and The Hippo how she was going to kickass in Earth Rumble and bantered with King Bumi how _she_ was the strongest earthbender in the world.

She was having a great time when she 'saw' a group of people hurrying towards the party. Moving to find Katara she grabbed her and pulled her to the side.

"People are trying to crash my party!" she explained, "I know I'm so awesome that people want to come but I'm not tolerating gate-crashers! Help me kick them out!"

And with that the two benders excused themselves and planned a quick assault on the gate-crashers. Toph and Katara hid behind a tree and waited. When they got close enough the two girls jumped out and used their bending skills to show that absolutely zero gate-crashers would be allowed in.

The two benders went all out for a quick moment till they realised who it was.

"Naruto?" Katara asked just after she doused him with water.

"Ah yeah…" he said, shocked from the girls' assault.

"Oh crap sorry!" Toph cried out, and she let Kiba and Hinata out of the earth walls she set them in.

"Toph?" Sakura asked; who was surprised by Toph's growth these past six years.

"I am so sorry!" Katara said, "We thought you were gate-crashers!"

"Why would you think we'd-" Naruto started but he stopped when he remembered Toph's abilities.

"It's my eighteenth so we're celebrating!" Toph said happily, "Come on in, come on in the more the merrier!" and she led the way inside.

"Aang and the others will be so happy to see you all" Katara said, and she joined Katara and the two instantly began chatting.

When Toph and Katara re-emerged with the ninja, Team Avatar were the first to run over and Aang was excited most of all. After the introductions the ninja began to mingle with everyone and Sasuke quietly pulled Team Avatar aside and apologised for his actions during the war.

"Don't worry about it!" Sokka said happily, "Water under the bridge!"

Toph soon found herself talking with Neji; the two had formed a strong friendship thanks to their time spent together rushing back to the war.

"How did you guys know how to come here?"

"We first went to the Fire Nation, many of them remembering Tenten and myself. They told us that you were all at your home so with directions we made our way over here with many arguments and getting lost on the way."

"I can imagine" Toph laughed, she paused and continued, "I noticed that smart kid, what's his name...Shikamaru isn't here."

"He's on his way" Neji answered, "He and Temari became a couple after the war so he went to live in Sunagakure. Naturally they'd be longer coming from Suna."

Fighting back trying to spit out her drink, Toph fought to not freak out nor show any signs of freaking out, "That's nice" was all she managed to say.

Oh bloody hell! Did that mean Gaara was on his way? Or was he too busy to bother to deal with her? Trying to keep herself composed, she moved the conversation on, soon being joined by others.

oOo

Later that evening once Toph, Suki and Katara had settled everyone in (Toph did have quite a large house). Toph was venting with Katara and Suki.

"How dare he come here!" she yelled whilst pacing back and forth, "After no word for six years? Ugh I'm going to pound him when he comes!"

"Toph we don't even know if he's coming or not. All we know is that Shikamaru is on his way" Katara pointed out.

"Most likely with Temari" Suki added.

"Yeah if Temari's coming then for sure Gaara and Kankuro would be joining them!" Toph complained.

Suki earned a glare from Katara for her comment.

"Alright let's focus on something else. What will you do if Gaara does happen to turn up?" Katara asked. She was curious as Toph hadn't mentioned him much for a while now.

Katara's question calmed Toph down, and she answered, "In all honesty, I don't know. All I know is that it's not going to be the same. It's been six years after all; he's probably settled down with some girl and started a family."

Neither Katara nor Suki said anything, after all Toph could've been right.

"First things first just be friendly" Suki said, she paused and then added in a more playful tone, "And if he does happen to have some girl, then show him what he missed out on!"

With that the three girls cracked up laughing, "As fun as that would sound, I don't think I could keep up the charade. I'd probably burst out laughing at any minute!" Toph said, now quietened down to chuckling.

"It's going to be quite an event that's for sure!" she added.

oOo

During the next three days before Earth Rumble, Team Avatar's roles were reversed for they were now the guides, showing around the ninja. Toph was the lead guide, showing them all the cook places of her home. Zuko then suggested a tour around all four nations, to which everyone eagerly agreed.

"We're NOT going to Ba Sing Se though!" Toph said, making Aang laugh as she said the exact same thing when they were at Sunagakure.

"What's so wrong with Ba Sing Se?" Ino asked.

"Toph just doesn't like it because she hated the whole society life she had before she joined us" Sokka explained, "Ba Sing Se's not such a bad place. Especially when we've got Iroh's tea shop there!"

"Seriously you guys have no had tea till you've tried my Uncle's!" Zuko added.

"Fine!" Toph gave in, "We'll go to Ba Sing Se!"

"So tell us about this tournament think you're in" Kiba said, "It sounds like something I'd want to enter!"

Kiba's remark made Toph scoff, "Hah I'd love to see you try! The earthbenders will break you within five seconds! Remember how I caught you the night of my party?"

Grumbling, he said, "Alright fine I won't enter."

"What about if I enter Toph?" Naruto asked.

"Don't even think about it."

Like Kiba, Naruto got moody.

Soon the conversation turned to how Naruto was as Hokage, with the ninja teasing him that he was a lazy Hokage, always complaining about there not being much adventure and too much paperwork.

"Aww guys I'm not that bad!"

When the topic of conversation then turned to Gaara, Toph made a strategic move to excuse herself as she wanted to work on her earthbending for Earth Rumble. No way did she want to hang around and be told that Gaara was all loved up with a family!

"I'll come with you!" Lee sad, "I've missed out on quite a bit of my training since we all left for this holiday, I need to get back into shape otherwise I'll lose my youth!"

"Uh yeah sure fine" Toph said, happy with Lee to join her yet still finding him a little strange.

oOo

It was finally the day of Earth Rumble! Jumping out of bed Toph got ready as quickly as she could, had breakfast and ran outside into the gardens to start some last minute training.

"You all ready?" she heard Katara's voice ask.

"More than ever!"

**Gaara**

Gaara looked around at the Earth Kingdom town they were in, _so this is Toph's home_ he thought. He was nervous to see her. He last saw her six years ago and if she still had that same personality, then she wouldn't be happy with him. He had been meaning to reply to her letters for a while, but he had been so busy with Kazekage duties that he had pushed her to the back of his mind. When he remembered about her he thought it too late, that she'd be angrier to hear from him than happy. She had also stopped writing. So he thought it best to leave her alone. Six years passed, and he was positive he'd never see her again; till his surprise that when Shikamaru came back to Suna, he said that Naruto wanted all of them to join him to go to Aang's world! And with the proper arrangements, Gaara left Suna in Baki's hands till he returned. He was not going to pass up a chance to see Toph again! He wondered what she'd be like now, of course she'd look older, she'd be eighteen now, a grown adult! He thought about how different she'd look now, more womanly, definitely.

"How you going bro?" Temari asked, putting an arm around him, "You all excited to meet Toph?"

A little while after the war, sick of Temari's questions about when he'll settle down (and who with), he confided in her that it was Toph whom he wanted. And since Shikamaru telling them of Naruto wanting everyone to come here, it has been Temari's mission to get them together.

"Oh hey look at this!" Kankuro pointed out a poster.

"The annual Earth Rumble; sign up now. For one day only. Come see the Blind Bandit back in action" Shikamaru read out loud.

"Let's go" Gaara said, immediately knowing who the Blind Bandit was.

"I thought you wanted to catch up with everyone else?" Kankuro asked.

"They'll be at this tournament, trust me."

**Toph**

With only having to use her feet, she knocked her opponent out of the arena.

"Give it up for your new Earth Rumble champion!" the MC called out, grabbing Toph's hand and putting it up in the air.

Everyone cheered and quietened down as she grabbed the microphone, "Anyone else wanna challenge me?" she challenged.

After a quick moment of silence an, "I will" was heard. Toph froze, even though it had been six years she knew that voice anywhere.

Keeping her resolve, she 'saw' him walk down the steps and enter the arena.

"And who's this new challenger?" the MC asked into the mic.

"Gaara" he answered; and a loud cheer came from where all their friends were sitting.

"Alright then let's begin!" the MC screamed, and he quickly got off the arena.

The earthbender and the ninja stood there facing each other off. Toph couldn't believe this! How dare he challenge her like this! She couldn't hold back though, the championship title was on the line! She felt him move first; he was trying to float on his sand. Smirking, she brought down his sand with just a grabbing movement of her hand. Oh yes, she had been working extensively on her sandbending these past six years. All too late she felt the sand grab and trip her and when she fell she made a fist and smashed it against the ground, causing the whole arena to break and move and in a quick movement Gaara succeeded at his second attempt at using the floating sand. Toph followed suit, smirking as she could imagine the look on his face at her new skill. The two of them then sent flying sand at each other, dodging and moving very quickly. Getting sick of this, Toph jumped to the ground and then started to hurl mounds of earth at him. This soon made Gaara jump to the ground as well. However he too must've learned from their last encounter as he only stood still in one spot for a quick second before moving to another place. His downfall in this, however, was that Toph was able to predict his movement and as soon as he moved to his next spot, she grabbed his feet, and when he was caught off balance she caught his arms in earth as well. When the match was over she let him go.

"Your new champion, THE BLIND BANDIT!" the MC called out and as everyone was cheering she was given the all too familiar belt.

"And how do you feel to be back home?" she asked it, laughing and putting it around her waist, "That's right!" she called out, "The Blind Bandit is back!"

All her friends came down to congratulate her.

"I was so obvious you were going to win this!" Sokka cried out.

"Damn straight!" she called back.

As much as she prepared to be bombarded by her friends, she wasn't prepared for Katara, Suki and Temari who had gotten together and made a plan for Gaara and Toph to talk. And that's just what happened when Katara told her that there was another challenger in the Earth Rumble who arrived too late so Katara sent him to Toph's house to challenge her there. Keen for this, Toph ran back home without any suspicion. However, she was prepared to murder when she saw Gaara standing in her gardens.

"I see Katara pulled a fast one on you as well" he said, "Temari did the same to me."

Growing stiff, she said, "Well that's nice to know."

An awkward silence passed between them, till Toph decided to speak, "So ah…did you want to see anything particular during your stay here?"

Ugh she wanted to hit herself for that comment! Could she be any more awkward?

After another silence, he answered, "I wouldn't mind enquiring after something."

"Go ahead!"

And after another silence, he started, "I've wanted to be with you, for quite a while now. I think it started when you and Aang came to Suna. There was something about you which drew me in."

She couldn't take this in, was he saying what she thought he meant?

"So what you told me, when we parted ways. You to that meeting and Aang and I back to Konoha, you really mean it?"

"Why would I say it if I didn't?"

For some reason, his comment made her angry, "Then why not reply to any of my letters? I understand that you would've been busy with being a Kage and all, but six years busy? It doesn't make sense to me!"

"You're right that I was busy, and by the time I remembered it was too late and that you had stopped writing. I figured that you would be angrier to hear from me."

Bloody hell he just knew her so well! And this made her feelings towards him even stronger. And with that, she knew what she wanted to do. Taking a few steps towards him she grabbed him and kissed him! When she pulled away from him she blushed, "I've wanted you too."

Gaara then pulled her into a hug. But their little moment was interrupted by a squeal.

"About time you two!" Katara, Suki and Temari all said at once.

"You three!" Toph called out, but before she had a chance to say anything more everyone else showed up.

"What's going on here?" Naruto started, but when he saw Gaara blushing and standing very close to Toph he broke into a grin, "Gaara and Toph sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-" but he was cut off thanks to a whack from Sasuke.

Getting fed up with everyone's behaviour; Toph cried out, "Alright! If anyone doesn't want to be caught in my special _metalbending_ move, they'd better leave now!"

And with that everyone cleared off.

Letting out a sigh, Toph said, "Finally"

"They won't give up that easily, you realise that right?" Gaara said, "We'll be the hot topic of conversation for a while."

Turning back to face him she said, "Let's just worry about that later." Then she remembered something, "Wait you said you started to fall for me when I was at Suna with Aang right?"

"Yes"

"You've got to be kidding me! That's when I started to like you! Do you realise how much easier this would have been if I wasn't such an idiot?"

Gaara pulled her into a hug again, "Not just you, myself as well. I shouldn't be so shy."

It wasn't until a few years later, when the two of them had settled down and Gaara told her his full story; of how he used to be, was when Toph understood what he said that day.

_**And there you have it! It's all over! This chapter turned out much longer than I had intended it to be but oh well ehehe. I hope you all liked it & that thank you again for sticking with this story! I may continue to write more Gaara x Toph stories as they're just too awesome together. Again, thank you!**_


End file.
